Painstaking work restores Mumbai’s structures to former glory

Royal Bombay Opera House. Express

All four heritage structures of Mumbai that were among the winners of the UNESCO Asia Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation announced Wednesday saw painstaking conservation work for months before they were recently restored to their former glory. Three of the projects had been undertaken by conservation architect Vikas Dilawari, and one by architect Abha Lambah.

The Awards of Merit were given to Byculla’s Christ Church and the Royal Bombay Opera House, apart from honorable mentions for the Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia Fountain and Clock Tower in Fort and the Wellington Fountain in Colaba.

Charles Duckworth, the administrator of Christ Church, said he was not expecting the honour, and that it had come as a surprise. The 19th century church on Claire Road in Byculla was one of the last Neo Classical structures to be built in the city. It was constructed for the convenience of then city Governor Montstuart Elphinstone to attend Sunday Mass at a church closer to his home in Parel than the St Thomas Cathedral in Fort.

Christ Church. Express

It was restored by Dilawari’s firm over a period of one year between 2015 and 2016. UNESCO’s award citation states that the building had suffered from “earlier inappropriate repair works that disguised and diminished its cultural value”.

The Royal Opera House was brought back to life on October 18 last year after lying in dereliction for 23 years.

“The award is a validation of the work that the whole team put in for eight years. It is also a validation of the fact that privately owned heritage can reach high levels of conservation without any government support and can also turn a dilapidated building around into a dynamic, vibrant cultural centre,” said Abha Lambah, the architect who worked on the project.

When the team began work on the project in 2006, it was confronted with severe structural damage to the building. The greatest challenge was to repair the structural damage and make it modern without compromising on its heritage.

“We had to insert modern air-conditioning, lighting and high quality acoustics that are required for today’s performances without compromising on its historic value,” added Lambah.

The team relied on old photographs of the structure to reconstruct it, including the old balconies.

The BH Wadia Fountain and Clock Tower was brought back to life in a restoration effort by the Kala Ghoda Association (KGA) and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in January this year after lying in a dilapidated condition for years. Built in 1882, the clock tower was erected with public funds as a token of appreciation for Bomanjee Hormarjee Wadia, a prominent citizen.

“We are gratified and pleased for Vikas Dilawari who did such a difficult job of restoring a building on the verge of collapse. It is not just a conservation effort but also an engineering feat,” said Maneck Davar, chairman of the KGA.

The clock tower was restored to its former glory after painstaking work of eight to nine months. While restoring the structure, its location posed a major challenge. “Since it is at a traffic island, we had to be very careful that nothing falls onto the vehicles below,” said Dilwari.

The teakwood beams had rotted and fallen down and tree roots had grown into the structure, making it unsafe. After providing scaffoldings, the conservationists used stainless steel pins to hold the heavy basalt stones together.

While restoring the structure 100 per cent, Dilawari ensured that all old materials were reused save for a concrete slab.

“We reused all the old wooden beams which could be salvaged and restored. We only had to replace the earlier stone slab and cast a new concrete slab. When the structure was constructed, it had some inherent defects, which were revealed only with time. We corrected them as well without making any changes to the exterior,” added Dilawari.

To prevent flooding within the structure after the road level around it increases, the team also restored an old drain.

“By restoring the 19th century street landscape features, which were otherwise ignored, they have added meaning to the surroundings,” he added.

Dilawari’s firm also worked on Wellington Fountain, opposite Regal Cinema in Colaba. The 152-year-old fountain was built to commemorate the frequent visits to Bombay of Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington. The restoration work was funded by Mahindra & Mahindra, while experts from the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage also assisted in restoring the fountain’s original basalt and metal surface, which had been hidden over the years by layers of paint.