The Municipal Corporation Building, Mumbai located in South Mumbai in Maharashtra, India is a Grade IIA heritage building (‘V’ shaped as viewed from top) opposite to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (an UNESCO World heritage site) at the junction of Dadabhai Naoroji Road and Mahapalika Marg. It is also known as the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation Building, or BMC building for short.BMC is said to be the largest civic organization in India as well as in Asia: it covers an area of 434 km2 (167.6 sq mi).
The BMC was created in 1865 and Arthur Crawford was its first Municipal Commissioner. The Municipality was initially housed in a modest building at the terminus of Girgaum Road. In 1870, it was shifted to a building on the Esplanade, located between Watson Hotel and the Sassoon Mechanics Institute where the present Army & Navy building is situated. On December 9, 1884, the foundation stone for the new building of the Bombay Municipal Corporation was laid opposite to the Victoria Terminus now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, by the Viceroy of the time, Lord Ripon.
Two designs were considered for the building; one of the Gothic designs done by Frederick William Stevens and the other in the Indo-Saracenic design presented by Robert Fellowes Chisholm. The Gothic design was finally selected. The building was completed in 1893.
Source(s) and Link(s):
Image Clicked by Author
The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, formerly known as Victoria Terminus Station, in Mumbai, is an outstanding example of Victorian Gothic Revival architecture in India, blended with themes deriving from Indian traditional architecture. The building, designed by the British architect F. W. Stevens, became the symbol of Bombay as the ‘Gothic City’ and the major international mercantile port of India. The terminal was built over 10 years, starting in 1878, according to a High Victorian Gothic design based on late medieval Italian models. Its remarkable stone dome, turrets, pointed arches and eccentric ground plan are close to traditional Indian palace architecture. It is an outstanding example of the meeting of two cultures, as British architects worked with Indian craftsmen to include Indian architectural tradition and idioms thus forging a new style unique to Bombay.
Rashid's Blog: A Place for Inquisitive Souls 