Mumbai’s Victorian Gothic & Art Deco gets UNESCO tag

In a proud moment for Mumbaikars, the famed cluster of Victorian Gothic and Art Deco buildings at Fort and Marine Drive heritage precincts in south Mumbai was on Saturday recognised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Heritage site.

In a formal announcement made on its official twitter handle on Saturday, UNESCO stated, “Just inscribed as@UNESCO #WorldHeritage site: Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai, #India. Congratulations!”

The decision to accord World Heritage site status to Victorian Gothic and Art Deco buildings in south Mumbai was taken at the ongoing 42nd session of UNESCO World Heritage Committee, currently underway in Bahrain.

With the UNSECO’s announcement, the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai have become Mumbai’s third World Heritage site; the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Elephanta Caves being the city’s two other world heritage sites.

With five world heritage sites, Maharashtra now has more number of world heritage sites than any other State in the country. Outside Mumbai, the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Aurangabad have already been declared by UNESCO as World Heritage sites.

Conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah, who prepared the heritage dossier for Mumbai, had first mooted the idea about pushing Mumbai’s heritage treasure at a UNESCO conference for Asia Pacific in 2004.

Later in 2012, the Maharashtra Government submitted its formal nomination proposal for the UNESCO honour in 2012 for the ‘Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai’.

The area, which has been accorded UNESCO World Heritage status, covers an area of around 163 acres. In all, there are 96 structures, including the buildings around Oval Maidan (MG Road and Dinshaw Vachha Road), buildings from the CCI to Marine Drive, the front-row buildings facing Marine Drive and the Marine Drive promenade.

The Oval Maidan, which is a legendary cricket ground, is the 97th heritage entity.

It is at a walking distance from the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) and Churchgate stations.

The recognised Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles comprise historic landmarks like the Bombay High Court, University of Mumbai, David Sassoon Library and Maharashtra Police Headquarters buildings. Though the Art Deco is mainly residential buildings, the ensemble also comprises buildings along Marine Drive, the iconic Eros and Regal cinema halls.

Some other prominent Art Deco structures that stand majestically include Rajab Mahal, India Assurance Building, New Empire Cinema and Fairlawns buildings.

Most of these buildings in stone were constructed during the late 19th century after demolishing the crumbling walls of the old Bombay Fort, and designed by masters like Sir Gilbert Scott, James Trubshaw and Lt Col James Fuller.

Subsequently, the Art Deco development in the 20th century was planned as per the designs of WR Davidge in the 1920s onwards, making it the second largest ensemble of such buildings in the world. The buildings symbolised the growing affluence and commercial importance of the then Bombay, which in next four to five decades emerged as the country’s financial capital.

No other city in the world has both these large ensembles of emblematic 19th and 20th century styles facing each other in one grand gesture of urban design.

Akin to the earlier art nouveau design style and the Bauhaus movement, the art deco movement embraced all types of art from jewellery, furniture design, textiles, fashion, graphics and industrial design.

In their book, Bombay Deco, community historian Sharada Dwivedi and architect Rahul Mehrotra attributed the rise of the art deco movement in Mumbai to the developments during the post-First World War period when businesses flourished and owners wanted to show off their ostentatious workspaces. A couple of other factors that contributed to the growth of art deco movement were the fact that the heirs of India’s princely states  showed interest constructing lavish homes in the city to host the social elite and the fast emerging Hindi industry added glamour to the structures.