M G Road Bangalore: Spencer’s & Crystal Picture Palace In 1914
This charming postcard from 1914 features South Parade Road, later renamed Mahatma Gandhi Road (MG Road). South Parade was one of the major thoroughfares in the Bangalore Cantonment, characterized by wide roads lined with shops and greenery.
Dominating the foreground on the right is the European-style facade of the Crystal Picture Palace, one of Bangalore’s earliest cinema theaters. It later became known as The Globe and eventually Liberty Cinema. The structure captures the era’s colonial charm, with locals and Europeans gathered near the theater, some browsing the cinema posters.
Next to the theater stands another colonial building, Spencer & Co., a famous departmental store that catered to the cantonment’s European community during the British Raj era by offering fine imported goods. Colloquially referred to as Spencer’s, this store was one of the largest departmental establishments throughout colonial South India. The wide avenue, with its trees and low-rise buildings, presents an atmosphere very different from the bustling MG Road of today. A dirt-paved road features a lone horse-drawn cart, alongside a solitary cyclist and a few pedestrians strolling. Utility poles with hanging street lamps are visible, adding to the scene’s charm. Click image to enlarge.
Did you know – there was once a tank near today’s MG Road. An 1854 map records Shoolay Tank, near the area of present-day Shoolay Circle. Like many of Bangalore’s historic water bodies, it eventually disappeared from the modern cityscape.
