This is my blog which describes the heritage walk that can be taken during a short visit to South Mumbai.

You can view the entire album with comments by clicking on the following link or read the blog,  watch the photos!
View Entire Photo Album

Heritage Walk Route Map

Route Map of the walk

View Larger Map


Heritage Walk

The Gateway of India

The Taj Mahal Palace

• We start our heritage walk from 'The Gateway of India' - This bold basalt arch of colonial triumph, was built in 1924, facing out the Mumbai harbor. It was used as a landing place for British governors and other distinguished personages. In earlier times, the Gateway was the monument that visitors arriving by boat would have first seen in the city of Bombay!
• Look at the statue of Swami Vivekananda, who left to America from the gateway in 1893. Halt for a moment and introspect on the great saints life.
• Just opposite the Gateway, is the imposing and stunning Taj Mahal Palace hotel!  The Taj Mahal Palace hotel  was commissioned in Indo-Saracenic style by Jamsedji Tata and first opened its doors to guests on 16 December 1903.
  Spend sometime observing the grandiose building.  Buy some channa (chick-peas) and feed the pigeons.  :)
• Observe the statue of Shivaji Maharaj - The Maratha leader of the 16th century.
• Walk up Shivaji Marg past the colonial relic Royal Bombay Yatch Club on the one side and the Art Deco residential-commercial complex - Dhunraj Mahal.

Motifs on the exterior facade Classic Art Deco style at Regal Cinemas

• Dodge the traffic and head towards the center of Regal Circle.  From here you get a great view of the Old Sailors Home - built in 1876 (now the Maharashtra Police HQ), the Art Deco Regal Cinema and the old Majestic Hotel.
  
  The Regal Cinema is one of the few old style movie theaters still operating in the city. Regal was built during the cinema boom of the ’30s during which other cinema halls like Plaza Central, New Empire, Broadway, Eros and Metro opened. Opened in 1933, Regal was designed by Charles Stevens, the son of a famous 19th century architect. Its interiors with extensive mirror-work were designed by Czech artist, Karl Schara. It was the first of Bombay’s Art Deco cinemas.
• Continue on MG Road, opposite the Indian Institute of Science building is Prince of Wales Museum (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya)
  Step into the front gardens and admire this grand old building. 

  

  Prince of Wales Museum

  This was founded in the early years of the 20th century by prominent citizens of Bombay, with the help of the government, to commemorate the visit of the then Prince of Wales.   The museum building is built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, incorporating elements of other styles of architecture like the Mughal, Maratha and Jain. The museum building is surrounded by a garden of palm trees and formal flower beds.
• Keep going straight ahead on MG Road to view a spectacular building - 'The Elphinstone College' with Romanesque architecture, established in 1857 by the British.
• Next to it, you watch the charming - David Sassoon Library established in 1847.

Elphinstone College

The Bust of David Sassoon on the Library

Knesseth Eliyahod Synagogue

• After gazing at The Elphinstone College and the David Sassoon library take a right to Forbes street to visit the Knesseth Eliyahod Synagogue.
  This synagogue was built in 1884 by Jacob Elias Sassoon and his brother Albert (the Sassoon family also built the Sassoon Docks), in memory of their father Eliyahoo Sassoon. This soothing light blue colored building has a charming interior, resplendent with pillars, chandeliers, and stained glass windows. View it best in the afternoon when it's beautifully illuminated by sunlight. If you want to take photos inside, be prepared to pay 100 rupees.
  Don't be surprised to find police outside the synagogue. Every synagogue in Mumbai now has 24-hour police security after the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack.
  There is something poignant bout the Synagogue. Even though the pale blue exterior is peeling, the centuries old Jewish community ensures this place emanates peaceful vibrations.

• Get back to MG Road and continue north and cross the road to left side so that you can admire the vertical Art Deco styling of the New India Assurance Company building.
  The building's art deco architectural style combines modern art deco features with a modified classicism, evidenced in the strong vertical ribs of the façade that give the building a monumental appearance, making it seem larger than it is in reality. 

• In the traffic island, lies the pretty Flora Fountain named after the Roman goddess of abundance and erected in 1869 in honor of Sir Bartle Frere, the governor of Bombay.

Flora Fountain in 1904!  

St Thomas Cathedral

• We now turn east and walk on Veer Nariman road, walk towards St Thomas Cathedral.
  This is the oldest English building standing in Mumbai...Construction began in 1672, but got complete in 1718.
  
  Here's some history bout this building. The island of Bombay which was a Portuguese possession became a part of the dowry of the Portuguese princess Infanta Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II of England under the Anglo Portuguese treaty of June 1661.  As Governor of Bombay from 1672—1677, Gerald Aungier built a church, a hospital, a court of justice and other civic amenities on the English model, and fortified the Company's commercial establishment.
  
  If you are doing this heritage walk on a Sunday morning, then feel free to walk into the church for the morning mass.  Get inspired, listen to classic Christian hymns like -
  "Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done!"
• After a nice Spiritual session, head out of the church and walk into the stately Horniman Circle -  An arcaded ring of buildings, laid out in the 1860s.   

Circular Horniman Circle

Sculpted faces on Horniman building

Designed to be a large open space with grand buildings in the middle of the walled city,
the area had been known as Bombay Green in the 18th century.
This vast 15 acre space opposite the Town Hall where live music was played every evening after sunset.
Following India's independence in 1947, the area was renamed in honor of Benjamin Horniman, editor of the Bombay Chronicle newspaper, who supported Indian independence.

India's first Starbucks

Quaint Interiors in Starbucks

Horniman Circle has modern offices now and we find India's first Starbucks cofee shop tucked in one of the circular building here. Time for a break.
Observe the interiors at Starbucks, which are so creatively done. And of course enjoy the Danish pastry and  Fruit cakes :)

Neoclassical Townhall

Justice on the Bombay High Court

Rajabai tower

• You are refreshed now!
  Get back to the far end of Horniman cricle to view the neoclassical Town Hall which contains the State Central Library now.  The townhall was built in 1833. The plan for its construction began in 1811. After raising an amount of Rs.10,000 through a lottery, by the 'Literary Society of Bombay' (Mumbai), the funds were used for building the museum and library. These funds were not enough for the entire construction, therefore the society had to approach the government for more funds. 10 years later, the construction of the Town Hall was finally complete.

• Retrace your steps back to Flora fountain and continue straight on Veer Nariman road. Take a right when u see huge open spaces.  The first building on your left will be Venetian Gothic style State Public Works Department and the Bombay High Court.  Its structure is made up of black stone, with octagonal towers. On top of the building, statues of Justice and Mercy inspire upholding the Indian law.  

• Next to the Bombay University is the Huge Rajabai Clock Tower. The Rajabai tower was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, an English architect. He modeled on Big Ben, the clock tower of the UK houses of Parliament in London.... The construction was completed in November 1878.

The tower has a very interesting story.
The entire cost was defrayed by Premchand Roychand, a prosperous broker who founded the Bombay Stock Exchange on the condition that the tower be named after his mother Rajabai. Premchand Roychand's mother was blind and as a staunch follower of Jain religion she was supposed to consume her dinner before evening. The evening bell of the tower helped her to know the time without anyone's help. :)

• Enter the oval maidan - the huge flat open space.  If you are doing this on a sunday morning, you will see hundreds of kids playing cricket!
  Turn around and compare the colonial beauties. You get great views of the gothic State Public Works Department and the Bombay High Court and the Rajabai tower from the Oval maidan.

Oval Maidan in late 1870s

Oval Maidan now!

• Head to the road on the other side of the oval maidan and observe the wedding cake tower of the Eros Cinema.

Eros Cinema

• End the heritage walk by walk towards Marine Drive which is a 'C' shaped road, along the natural bay.  Most of the buildings which were built by wealthy Parsis sport an art deco look that was popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Miami in the United States is the only city in the world that has more art deco buildings along the seafront than Mumbai.
  

  

  Marine Drive

  
  Sit on the ledge, legs facing the sea  - Take in the cool breeze, the history and introspect!

• Bonus Heritage!
  Take a cab from Marine drive to Victoria Terminus (VT) and observe one of the finest architectural wonders in the city of Mumbai, called Victoria Terminus.  This awesome building in heart of Mumbai, was built by the British, to commemorate Victoria Jubilee Day in 1887 when India's first steam engine puffed out to neighboring Thane.

Victoria Terminus!

Victoria Terminus is undoubtedly the British Raj's piece de resistance, Complete with carved stone friezes, stained glass windows and flying buttresses. It is Gothic architecture at its best, an awesome edifice that i wonder bout the creativity... The dome is an octagonal ribbed structure with a colossal female figure symbolizing Progress, holding a torch pointing upwards in her right hand and a spoked wheel in her left!  How did they manage to take the statue to the top!?  Also notice the 4 gargoyles in form of a hounds! 

O ogle at this building for as long as you like and head home, knowing that you have been taken back in time like no other place.  Only South Mumbai can do this to ya! :)