Page 462 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

460  SOUTHWESTERN INDIA

imposing Gresham Assurance constructed in the 18th
House. This Art Deco structure century by a Jain merchant,
has an impressive basalt façade, Purushottamdas Kothari, and
with two grand pillars and added to in the 19th and early
a dome. 20th centuries. Jains, like
The Marshall Building, directly Buddhists, believe that all living
opposite, has a Florentine beings have souls, and that kind
dome, and was constructed acts towards all life forms will
in 1898 to accommodate the earn the giver merit in the
warehouse and offices of a next life.
British engineering firm. Its At the western end of
façade, embellished with a Walchand Hirachand Marg is
medley of angels, portholes Nagar Chowk, an oasis of green
and pediments, is a wonderful in the midst of swirling traffic.
example of how contemporary It has an impressive statue of
European architecture was Sir Dinshaw Manekji Petit, a
The Ruttonsee Mulji fountain, elab orately successfully transplanted baronet, captain of industry
carved and embellished to eastern settings. and leading Parsi philanthropist
w Shahid Bhagat Drinking water fountains or of the early 20th century. The
statue was sculpted by Sir
pyaos were set up across the
Singh Marg city by local philanthropists Thomas Brock, and the
to provide respite from surrounding garden is a
Fort Area.
the hot Indian summer. good place from which
This busy street, also known At the point where to view some of
as Colaba Causeway (see p451) Shahid Bhagat Singh Mumbai’s grand
towards its upmarket southern Marg meets Mint Victorian buildings –
end, is the bustling commercial Road is the among them the
and administrative hub of the Ruttonsee Mulji former Victoria
so- called Fort area (see p457). Drinking Water Terminus, the
Virtually no traces of this historic Fountain designed Mumbai Municipal
structure remain, but the by Frederick Williams Corporation building
area still offers a fascinating Stevens, the leading and the General
glimpse into the continuities architect of Victorian Gresham Assurance Post Office. Shahid
between colonial and present- Bombay, who also Building Bhagat Singh Marg
day Mumbai. designed the eventually runs
The Reserve Bank of India, Municipal Corporation Building into D’Mello Road, previously
which stands on the site of an and the Chhatrapati Shivaji known as Frere Road. This area
old military barracks, is India’s Terminus (see pp458–9). This lay under water until the 1860s,
central banking institution. fountain was erected in 1894 by when it was reclaimed by the
Built in 1939 and designed by a local trader, in memory of his Port Trust. Today the road is
JA Ritchie, it has a grand Art only son, whose statue stands lined with popular eateries.
Deco entrance, flanked by two beneath the dome.
impressive columns, which Made of limestone and
enhances its air of respectable red and blue granite,
solidity. There are attractive it is decorated with
cast-iron grilles in the window projecting elephant
panels. The modern high-rise heads, whose trunks
offices of the Reserve Bank, spout water. The dome,
across the road, stand in the supported by columns
grounds of the old Mint. This made of blue granite, is
is a majestic Classical-fronted crowned by the figure
building, designed and built in of a young boy. The
1827 by Major John Hawkins, fountain also has a
a member of the Bombay special trough from
Engineers’ Regiment. Entry into which animals can drink.
the Mint is restricted, but visible Further down Mint
from its compound is a stone Road, just before its
gateway erected by the junction with Walchand
Portuguese, now inside the Hirachand Marg, is
naval establishment, INS Angre. another pyao and the
West of the Mint, occupying a Kothari Kabutarkhana.
corner site at the intersection of Literally “Pigeon House”,
Pherozeshah Mehta and Shahid the Kabutarkhana is an Pigeons at the Kothari Kabutarkhana pecking at their
Bhagat Singh roads, is the ornate stone structure, daily supply of grain
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p700 and pp714–15

460-461_EW_India.indd 460 26/04/17 11:47 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm