Kala Ghoda, Elphinstone College & Esplanade Road Bombay, 1910

This 1910 interesting postcard displays Kala Ghoda (Black Horse), Elphinstone College, and Esplanade Road in Bombay (Mumbai). The statue was installed in honor of King Edward VII, seen mounted on his horse, after he visited India as the Prince of Wales in the 1870s. Colloquially, the horse was popularly known as Kala Ghoda (black horse), and even the area is now known by the same name in South Bombay.

Elphinstone College was built in the 1860s, named after the Governor of Bombay, Mountstuart Elphinstone. The college lay opposite the Victoria and Albert Museum (Bhau Daji Lad Museum) in Byculla at that time. On the right of the college is the Sassoon Library, built by David Sassoon. Esplanade Road was a British-era boulevard, now known as Mahatma Gandhi Road. Esplanade Road, Rampart Row (K. Dubash Marg), and Hornby Road (Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road) were planned along the course of the demolished walls of the Bombay Fort. British officials planned an impressive line of public and government buildings along the Esplanade. Some of them are the Bombay University, Prince of Wales Museum, Royal Institute of Science, etc. click image to enlarge.