The sprawling Bantony Castle Estate was acquired by the state government a few months back at a cost of Rs 27 crore for the restoration project which will include building a museum, restaurant and recreational park, it said.
The project is estimated to incur an expenditure of Rs 35 crore, the release said.
Once the summer palace of the erstwhile Maharaja of Sirmaur, Sir Amar Prakash Bahadur lent this estate, spread over an area of 20,000 square metres, to the British and it was used as the office of military works.
Before its construction in 1880 the site had asmall cottage. The Maharaja of Sirmaur built the estate's eclectic part in mock-Tudor and part chalet, and crowned it with sloping roofs with mini-towers.
Since 1957, the castle building, now in an advanced state of decay, had been the headquartersof state police and was vacated about eight years ago after a court case and it housed the Employment Exchange for a very long time.
Proceedings to acquire the Bantony Estate were initiated twice earlier, in 1968 for construction of government residential buildings and again in 1975, for a mini- secretariat. Both the acquisition attempts then were not completed.