Rampart Row & Forbes Street British Era Bombay, 1880 Photo
An old 1880 photo of Rampart Row and Forbes Street during British era Bombay (Mumbai). Looking at the beautiful image of the quaint city of Bombay that once seemed to have had a character of its own. Unhurried, gentle, and serene which surely is unimaginable now. Rampart Row (now K. Dubash Marg) is on the right and the narrower Forbes Street is on the left.
The place comes under the Kala Ghoda precinct. The other side of the K Dubash Marg is the back confines of the famous Prince of Wales Museum (although not visible here). Bombay street scenes convey Britisher’s pride in their urban planning. By 1850, land reclamation united the city’s original seven islands into a single land mass.
The city was to undergo an even more radical transformation in the 1860s. When Governor Henry Bartle Frere developed Bombay from a fortified trading town into an urban metropolis. Sir Bartle Frere introduced a master plan, which included the demolition of the massive fort walls and moats. And constructing wide new avenues and boulevards to create a modern city.
Did you know – the photo scene was taken from the famous Watson’s Hotel, which was once a Europeans-only hotel, no Indians were allowed entry.
Past posts – Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph 1894., Cochin Snake Boat Race – Old Postcard 1951., Mount Road The European Shopping Center of Madras, 1910 Print.
