Soldier of a fortune, the Frenchman Claude Martin deserted the French at Pondicherry and decided to try his luck under the British where he pursued a Commissioned officer's rank and rose to a Major's rank. Shifting his allegiance to the Nawabs of Lucknow, he could get much money and honour he had been aspiring for. Ultimately, Major General Claude Martin settled and breathed his last in Lucknow. Martin designed a building adopting many features of Italian architecture and mixing lavishly with indigenous Indian and Muslim style which was then known as Constantia. It was one of the first large buildings of an European order to be built in north India that evoked lot of curiosity and copied widely. Since 1840,. it houses La Martiniere Public School.