BALLARD ESTATE

• If it were a person, Ballard Estate would be an old Anglo-Indian grandfatherly gentleman. The quiet commercial district has remained frozen in
the 20th century and thankfully promises to retain the otherwise fading charisma of what used to be Bombay. Nostalgia aside, the district offers
many interesting stories and superb architectural heritage. The British wanted this place to resemble Victorian London with the luxury of a
tropical climate, and so the irony is not lost when one realizes that the Raj could exist only for 30-odd years post its construction.
• However, there are more reasons to be wandering here than just pretty buildings and surprising calm — two, to be precise. The first would be
the amazing Universal Cafe, which is a haunt for great fast food and is even popular with movie stars. The second is Britannia and Company,
which may unofficially be the most-loved eatery in the whole city, and food is not the sole reason! The restaurant is run by extremely charming,
savvy nonagenarian Boman Kohinoor, who doesn’t shy away from narrating tales of British Raj Bombay, or advising non Parsis/Irani's to
refrain from ordering Parsi soft drinks. With exotic dishes made of ingredients imported from Iran itself, it would be a crime to miss this place if
you are in Mumbai.
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• The Ballard Estate business district is situated in the financial district of Fort. Located between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus and Fort
in South Mumbai, it hosts the offices of shipping companies and the headquarters of the Mumbai Port Trust at the Port House. It has the
Reliance Centre, many mid-priced hotels and a noted Irani cafe, Britannia.
• Architect Kayzad Shroff provides an account of the commercial and cultural revival of Ballard Estate, Mumbai’s oldest and most handsome
business district; and artist Steve McDonald, who created the Fantastic Coloring Books series, illustrates one of its best known roundabouts
• In its heyday, Ballard Estate was a thriving hub of commercial activity due to its proximity to the Ballard Pier Mole railway station, and more so
as many commercial establishments—such as the Grand Hotel and the Bombay Port Trust—were headquartered there. That appeal declined
with the emergence of newer commercial areas, like Fort and Nariman Point (themselves replaced by Lower Parel and the Bandra Kurla
Complex), and the area steadily transformed into a ghost town post-sunset.

• Built between 1914 and 1918, by Scottish architect George Wittet, the commercial complex is one of the few holistically curated parts of an
otherwise (beautifully) haphazard and chaotic city. The first president of the Indian Institute of Architects, Wittet was among those responsible
for the evolution and popularity of Indo-Saracenic architecture in the country, and the creative force behind some of Mumbai's most iconic
landmarks, like the Prince of Wales Museum (now the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vaastu Sangrahalaya), the Gateway of India, and the King
Edward Memorial Hospital.

• In recent years, the locality has attracted India's corporate, creative and cultural powerhouses, who are drawn to the area by not only the
comparatively lower rentals, but also the grand interior spaces of the imposing Victorian architecture. The Reliance Centre was designed by my
fathers' studio, Rumy Shroff and Associates, in 2000.
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• Condé Nast introduced its Indian publishing arm to the area in 2006. Managing director Alex Kuruvilla says, “We looked at literally hundreds
of properties before stumbling on Ballard Estate. If you closed your eyes and imagined a Condé Nast office, this would be it. Leafy boulevards;
a view of warships at the naval docks; a short drive from the iconic Taj Mahal Palace hotel; lots of parking space and plenty of room for a
lunch-time walk—a rare luxury in Mumbai! One hears of plans to transform the area with marinas, entertainment centres and parks; it's all good
as long as they don't lose the area's old-world charm. Condé Nast India now has four offices across two historic buildings—and we're staying!”

• Pundole's—the auction house previously in Fort, where its art gallery is still located—is among the new residents in the neighborhood. Mallika
Advani, Pundole's auctioneer and specialist, says, “Ballard Estate has some charming old buildings with beautiful architectural elements, lovely
high ceilings and large windows. While we were open to looking at other areas in south Mumbai, these quiet roads with ample greenery,
coupled with the beautiful banyan tree outside the office windows made the decision quite easy.”

• Opened just last month, The Clearing House is chef Nitin Kulkarni's newest baby. Best known for his fine-dining menu at Colaba's Indigo, at
this new restaurant Kulkarni explores the global fusion of New American cuisine. Owner Rishad Nathani says, “Most of the new restaurants
today are opening in the mid-town, Lower Parel area and I felt that there was a desperate paucity of new restaurants in south Mumbai. I feel
Ballard Estate is an ideal location for a restaurant, given its historic beauty and lack of dining options. I think it has the potential to be the next
F&B destination in Mumbai.”
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• To dine in a former ice factory, visit a prominent auction house or peek into Mumbai's oldest photo studio, head to Ballard Estate. Here, the
past, quite literally, stares you in the face, with wide, tree-lined streets and elegant Renaissance- inspired architecture reminiscent of London's?
City center. A walk through this historic neighborhood will transport you to early 20th-century Bombay, when the work of one man, George
Wittet, transformed the city's skyline.
• When the Scottish architect arrived in Bombay in 1904, the city's romance with the Gothic-Revival style was on the wane
• With bright and airy work spaces, Ballard Estate rivalled the closed, dark buildings of the older Fort area, and soon found favor with some of
the leading companies of the day: including shipping giant British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd
• Further down the street, the listed Ballard Bunder Gatehouse, now a museum of Mumbai's maritime history, was designed by Wittet as the
original entrance to Ballard Pier, the point of arrival for passenger ships - for many, the real "'gateway"' to the city. Before the Forties, the
nearby Port Trust Railway line from Ballard Pier Mole station would ferry troops and passengers to larger stations and long-distance trains
bound for destinations such as Karachi. From behind the high stone wall today, you can still imagine the sounds of a bustling railway platform
as tourists, travellers and soldiers prepared to set off on the journey of a lifetime through India 100 years ago.
BALLARD ESTATE Image of environment

• BEHAVORIAL PATTERN
• Ballard bunder
• Neville house
• Hamilton studios
• Pathé India
• Grand hotel
• Port trust war memorial
• Mackinnon Mackenzie
• Scindia house
• Café universal
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BALLARD ESTATE
• SOCIAL/CULTURAL APPROACH

Ballard bunder house

• MORPHOLOGICAL APPROACH

• FUNCTIONAL AND TEMPORAL APPROACH