Old photo of the Kalaghoda in front of the david sassoon library
Kalaghoda The name means Black Horse, a reference to a black stone statue of King Edward VII (as the then Prince of Wales) mounted on a horse. Although this statue was removed in 1965 to storehouses of the Bhau Daji Lad Museum (formerly the Victoria & Albert Museum (Mumbai)) in Byculla, Central Mumbai, the name persists. The statue is now in the Jijamata Udyan in Byculla.
Looking on to the Kala Ghoda, on Rampart Row, this Romanesque structure, completed in 1870, is built from the same yellow Malad stone as the rest of the buildings in the row– Elphinstone College, the Army and Navy Building and Watson’s Hotel. tifr
The columns are of black (Deccan) trap and the dressing is in random rubble masonry. The ground floor facade of the three-storeyed building has pointed arches decorated in white and black stripes protecting the arcade which is characteristic of the area
The foyer with its multicoloured Minton floor tiles, opens, at the back, into a garden. Above the entrance portico is a white stone head of David Sassoon. tifr
David Sassoon (October 1792 – November 7, 1864)
The Sassoon Docks (built by his son) and the David Sassoon Library are named after him.
Recommended Reading
Through the Looking Glass: The Grade I Heritage of Mumbai by Abha Narain Lambah; Urban Design Research Institute & Jasubhai Media, Navi Mumbai; pages 147, Rs.750.
The Bombay High Court: The Story of the Building 1878–2003, 9Eminence Designs, 2004 by Rahul Mehrotra and Sharada Dwivedi)
Through the Looking Glass: The Grade I Heritage of Mumbai by Abha Narain Lambah (Urban Design Research Institute & Jasubhai Media, 2003)
Banganga (Banganga – Sacred Tank on Malabar Hill, Eminence Designs, 1996)
The Heritage Buildings of Bombay: Introduction & Text by Rajan Narayan, Photographs by Sunil Vaidyanathan; English Edition Publishers, Mumbai; pages 200, Rs.1,950.
Glimpses of India: A Grand Photographic History of the Land of Antiquity, the Vast Empire of the East by J.H. Furneaux; English Edition Publishers, Mumbai; pages 508, Rs.3,000.
Glimpses of India is a good reprint of a memento of the British Raj, published in 1896. It was edited by J.H. Furneaux, sub-editor of The Times of India
With 632 buildings listed as heritage structures, our city is an architectural goldmine
48 Grade I buildings
http://www.mumbaimirror.com/index.aspx?page=article§id=62&contentid=2008012120080121152333125c7a44b00§xslt=section&pageno=1
Articles
Abha Narain Lambah is an accomplished heritage architect who has overseen the restoration of several Grade I heritage structures in the city. She expresses her views on how endangered structures can be refurbished and conserved
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