Rebuilt on the original site, Peterhoff now serves as the state guest house.

However, Barnes Court is considered jinxed. Except Prabha Rau's predecessor, Justice (retd) Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje, no governor of the state has completed his/her full five-year term in office since 1981.

'Since 1981, 21 governors had assumed charge but none of them, except Kokje, completed their full term in office,' a senior Raj Bhawan official said.

Prabha Rau assumed the charge as the 22nd governor in July last year.

Author E.J. Buck wrote in his book 'Simla Past and Present' that Barnes Court is partly a single and partly a double storeyed building. It has been built in such a way as to have good views on three sides - the west, south and east.

The front of the house is raised on a masonry terrace and there is a level lawn to the west between the house and a hill.

Shimla has 91 British-era heritage buildings in typical Tudor style - all wooden frames and shingled eaves - but most are in bad shape.