Maharashtra: Esplanade Mansion to get a lease of life

The historic Esplanade Mansion in the Kala Ghoda-Fort area of Mumbai is all set to get a lease of life. The Esplanade Mansion, which was earlier Watson's Hotel, was Mumbai's first luxury hotel.

It is here where the famous Lumière Brothers showcased six films - marking the birth of the Indian film industry.

The restoration and conservation plan is expected to be in the range of Rs 50 crore.

The owner of the building, Sadik Ali Mohammed Ali, has appointed conservation architect, Chetan Raikar, as one of the consultants for restoration work, the Bombay High Court was informed.

A division bench, comprising Justice SJ Kathawalla and Justice RI Chagla, has given two weeks' time for a proper plan to be tabled and posted the next hearing for March 18.

The building, which is around 150 years old and now a dilapidated structure, is one of the earliest surviving cast-iron structures. It is located along the 'Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai' that has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage Site and is also listed in the '100 World Endangered Monuments' by the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based NGO.

The building is listed as a Grade II–A heritage structure by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation.

The Mumbai Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board (MBRRB) of the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) had declared it "dilapidated" in 2007 after which the tenants - mostly lawyers - had moved the Bombay High Court.

The court has now asked the tenants to vacate, which has happened. The area is now barricaded.

Esplanade Mansion has about 130 tenants, of which 45 are residential and the rest commercial. There is a paan shop, stationery shops on the ground floor and a famous Army restaurant, an Irani café here.

Named after its original owner, John Watson, the building was fabricated in England and constructed on-site between 1860 and 1863.

It was designed by the civil engineer Rowland Mason Ordish, who was also associated with the St Pancras Station in London.

The external cast-iron frame closely resembles other high-profile19th century buildings such as London's Crystal Palace. The Watson's Hotel closed in 1960. Since then, it has seen a change of hands. Most of the tenants are lawyers and law firms as the building is situated next to the Mumbai Sessions Court and a few metres away from the Bombay High Court.

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ESPLANADE MANSION: A SLICE OF HISTORY

* On 7 July 1896, the Lumière Brothers had showcased six films here – marking the beginning of the Indian film industry.

* The legendary American author and humourist Mark Twain stayed here and wrote about the city's crows, which he saw outside his balcony, in 'Following the Equator'.

* According to a popular myth, Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata decided to build the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower – located off Gateway of India -- after he was refused entry to this "whites only" place.

* Sir Richard Francis Burton, the British explorer, and geographer and writer, who wrote 'The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana', too had stayed here in 1876.

* It also finds mention in the writings of Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling, who wrote 'The Jungle Book', 'Kim' and several other novels.