How Fort’s colonial past shaped Mumbai’s modern identity

A fire gutted Kothari Mansion on June 9. On June 24, a UNESCO committee meeting will decide on the heritage status of Fort and Marine Drive

The Botawala building stands in this buzzing commercial area that we collectively refer to as ‘Fort'. But did you know that until the 1860s, Mumbai (then Bombay) had a fort built by the British that had impregnable walls and watchtowers, and cannons aimed towards the coastline, to safeguard this important port from enemy attacks via the Arabian Sea? This Fort housed British settlements, and military and administrative offices. Only a few Indian homes and business establishments were located along its fringes. It had three gates - Bazaar Gate, Church Gate and Apollo Gate. As the population grew within the Fort, the then-farsighted Governor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere (term: 1862-67), ordered that its walls should be brought down to decongest the over-populated area and improve living conditions. Interestingly, many of the names connected with the Fort remain to this day.

In the heart of Fort, emerged some of Bombay's first public service buildings as well as planned, designed gardens and sub-precincts. One could say that the birth of modern Bombay emerged in these parts. Notable sites include the Asiatic Society and the Town Hall, Bombay Samachar and the Horniman Circle Garden. This beautiful circular garden and a semi-circular enclave was designed by James Scott in 1865, while the buildings were completed in 1873 to emerge as Bombay's first planned business district.

The garden was laid out in 1869, but it was originally a large open space called the Bombay Green, meant for trading cotton, which was the largest trading commodity in the 1860s.

Both these landmarks were originally called Elphinstone Circle and Elphinstone Circle Garden (in honour of former Governor John Elphinstone). The Circle and Garden were renamed after Benjamin Horniman, the fearless, pro-Indian British editor of the English language newspaper, Bombay Chronicle, which was in publication till 1959. It was also printed by The Bombay Samachar Press from the same building.

Calling it the ‘very birthplace of Bombay', a book that documents the intangible heritage of the circle, Zero Point Bombay: In & Around Horniman Circle by Kamala Ganesh, Usha Thakkar and Gita Chadha, mentions it as a hub of contemporary Mumbai, anchored in its economy and ethos.