"Military Orphan School opposite to Calcutta for the (ILLEGITIMATE ?)Children of private soldiers," of the Bengal Army, East India Company. The house was originally built about 1767 as a rum distillery by John Levett, Mayor of Calcutta, and was known as 'Levett's Gardens,' but was converted in 1782 by Capt. William Kirkpatrick into an orphanage for the children of British soldiers. The orphanage occupied the building until 1815. It was later used as the courthouse.