Chowpatty Beach & Marine Drive Mumbai, 1970 Postcard
A 1970 photo postcard of Chowpatty Beach and Marine Drive in Bombay, now Mumbai. The famous crescent-shaped Marine Drive with its art deco apartments in white and the Chowpatty Beach are visible. The Marine Drive begins from the crowded Chowpatty Beach arcing towards Nariman Point which is at the bottom tip.
The art deco apartments face the Marine Drive with a commanding view of the Back Bay waters. Like the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST), the art deco buildings were also awarded world heritage site by UNESCO. Marine Drive in 1915, was known as the Kennedy Sea Face, named in honour of a British engineer, John Pitt Kennedy, who was responsible for its design.
A reference from an 1870s guidebook ‘The drive from Malabar Hill to Chowpatty along the foot of the cliffs is very pretty. The steep banks are covered with foliage…among the basaltic masses of rock above the road is a colony of coolies. Who, having few wants, are quite happy in their miserable huts…’ Click on the photo for better view.
Did you know- Mumbai has the second largest art deco buildings in the world after Miami in the US.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma Paintings Depicted In Postcards., Distant View of Parvati Hill & Lake Pune – Old 1860 Photo., Early Aviation Biplane In British India Era 1913., First Narrow Gauge Railway In India, Old Print 1863.
