Embassy of the United States, New Delhi

The Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the Republic of India. The embassy is headed by the U.S. Ambassador to India. The embassy complex is situated on a 28-acre plot of land in Chanakyapuri, the diplomatic enclave of New Delhi, where most of the embassies are located. The embassy is also accredited to Bhutan with whom the United States maintains no formal relations.

History

The embassy was initially hosted in leased facilities which then-ambassador Loy W. Henderson identified as insufficient. When the Indian government created the diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri, it gave the United States the second pick for selecting property behind the United Kingdom; Henderson selected a "beautiful" 13-acre plot, and although the State Department did not purchase the land then, he persuaded Indian officials to hold it until the government authorized its procurement in 1953, when increased ties and awareness between the two countries as well as Cold War politics placed a new embassy in India atop the foreign service's construction priorities.

The embassy was designed by American architect Edward Durell Stone, then a professor of architecture at Yale University and the designer of Radio City Music Hall. The planning of the embassy began in the early 1950s and the complex includes the Chancery, the Roosevelt House (official residence of the U.S. Ambassador), office space and living accommodations and is located in New Delhi. After traveling to India, Stone submitted a design inspired by Indian temples and monuments, particularly the Taj Mahal, that used a white sunscreen around a structure shaped like a "rectangular donut" with a central tropical water garden featuring plants, fish, and birds. Despite some initial apprehension, it was approved in 1955 following a trip to the site by the commission tasked with evaluating the design.