Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai
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How it came to be
Having become a global trading centre, Mumbai (Bombay) carried out an ambitious urban plan in the second half of the 19th century. Along the east side of the Oval Maidan, once part of the open ground called the Esplanade, Victorian Gothic public buildings went up first; in the early 20th century Art Deco buildings followed on the west side.
The Rajabai Clock Tower of the University of Bombay was designed by the English architect George Gilbert Scott; its foundation stone was laid on 1 March 1869 and it was completed in November 1878. It stands 85 m high, and part of the cost was paid by Premchand Roychand, founder of the Bombay Stock Exchange, on condition that it be named after his mother, Rajabai. The neighbouring Bombay High Court, designed by Colonel James A. Fuller, was built in 1871–1878 and held its first sitting on 10 January 1879.
Apartment blocks and cinemas rose on the reclaimed Back Bay land in the 1930s; the Eros Cinema was commissioned in 1935 by the Parsi businessman Shiavax Cawasji Cambata and opened on 10 February 1938. The blend of Indian design and Art Deco imagery has been called Indo-Deco. The two ensembles were inscribed as a World Heritage site on 30 June 2018 at the committee session in Manama, Bahrain.
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