Bombay High Court, Rajabai Clock Tower & Secretariat Facing Back Bay, 1880 Photo
A 1880 photograph of Bombay’s (Mumbai) iconic Gothic skyline facing Back Bay, featuring — from left to right — the Secretariat, the Rajabai Clock Tower and University Library, and the Bombay High Court. The structure immediately to the left of the High Court may be the Wellington Lines. The scene overlooks the Oval Maidan, with Back Bay lying just beyond that.
The Churchgate Railway Terminus once stood near the shores of Back Bay. However, following land reclamation, the shoreline moved further away from Churchgate. The Secretariat building, completed in 1874, was designed by Colonel St. Clair Wilkins of the Royal Engineers and today houses several government offices.
Premchand Roychand funded the iconic 280-foot Rajabai Clock Tower and the adjoining library. Roychand was a prominent 19th-century industrialist and philanthropist from Bombay. The Rajabai Clock Tower was designed by the English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, and its foundation stone was laid in 1869. Construction was completed in 1878.
The tower was named after Roychand’s mother, Rajabai. The Bombay High Court, completed in the same year (1878). It is the second-largest public building in the city after the Victoria Terminus. Designed by Colonel J. A. Fuller of the Royal Engineers. Facing these striking Gothic structures lies the wide open space of the Oval Maidan. After the demolition of the old Fort walls, the once vast Esplanade was divided into four major open grounds: the Cooperage, Oval, Cross, and Azad Maidans.
Did you know – the architectural ornamental sculptures comprise a strange medley of crocodiles, boars, dogs, snakes, foxes, storks, and so on. There is no clear answer as to how or why these were created.
Past posts –Pensive Lady British India Watercolour Sketch, 1837., Devlali Military Canteen – Old Photo 1900.
