The Writers' Building is the secretariat building of the state government of West Bengal in Kolkata, India. The 150-metre long building covers the entire northern stretch of the Lal Dighi (Red Lake) in the B.B.D. Bagh area. It originally served as the principal administrative office for writers (junior clerks) of the British East India Company (EIC), thus giving it its name. It was designed by Thomas Lyon in 1777. The Writers' Building has gone through several expansions and refurbishments. <br><br> A 128 ft-long verandah with Ionic columns, each 32 ft high, were added on the first and second floors in 1832. <br><br> A statue of Minerva stands atop the pediment at the centre of the front facade. The terrace contains four clusters of statues - Justice, Commerce, Science, and Agriculture, with the respective Greek gods and goddesses of these four disciplines (Zeus, Hermes, Athena and Demeter respectively) flanked by a European and an Indian practitioner of these vocations.