CSMVS shapes digital library on Mumbai’s built heritage
In the first phase, 100 buildings from Mumbai’s heritage precinct will form part of the digital archive including structures such as Watson’s Esplanade hotel, the Gateway of India, the Asiatic Society (formerly Town Hall), Haji Ali, Jinnah House, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus), among others
MUMBAI: The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sanghralaya (CSMVS), once called the Prince of Wales Museum, was designed by architect George Wittet and was constructed as a memorial to the heir to the British Empire. This much is well known. What is little known, said director general of CSMVS Sabyasachi Mukherjee, is that Wittet wasn’t the first choice to lead its design and construction. That distinction belonged to James Miller, an architect from Glasgow, who won an open competition in 1907-8 to design the public museum. However, the Bombay Presidency, which was partly funding its construction — contributions from prominent citizens of the city funded the rest — decided to go with Wittet, as he was a consulting architect to the Bombay government at the time, and hence, the cheaper option. What’s more, the CSMVS was known by another name for a short duration after its construction. It was once called the Lady Hardinge Military Hospital, named after the wife of the then Viceroy of India, and housed soldiers injured in the First World War that broke out the same year the building was completed, in 1914.
Nuggets like these will soon be found in the digital library of Mumbai’s built heritage, which a CSMVS team of researchers led by historian architect Mustansir Dalvi is in the process of creating. Aided by partners such as CEPT University in Ahmedabad, the archive is likely to be made available to the public by November 2026, Mukherjee said.
In the first phase, 100 buildings from Mumbai’s heritage precinct will form part of the digital archive including structures such as Watson’s Esplanade hotel, the Gateway of India, the Asiatic Society (formerly Town Hall), Haji Ali, Jinnah House, and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus), among others. The Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI), which has worked extensively on documenting Mumbai’s Fort area since the 1990s and helped create layers of data about entire heritage precincts, is expected to be a partner in the project.
The CSMVS team held meetings with several institutions who have played an important record-keeping role for the city, such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Art Deco Mumbai, and even government bodies like the Maharashtra State Archives and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The aim is to house a diverse collection of resources: maps, plans, drawings, reports, book references, postcards, paintings, photographs and videos featuring Mumbai as a backdrop, among other things.
{{/usCountry}}The CSMVS team held meetings with several institutions who have played an important record-keeping role for the city, such as the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Art Deco Mumbai, and even government bodies like the Maharashtra State Archives and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The aim is to house a diverse collection of resources: maps, plans, drawings, reports, book references, postcards, paintings, photographs and videos featuring Mumbai as a backdrop, among other things.
{{/usCountry}}The idea behind starting such an archive first struck Mukherjee and his team in 2016-17. “The city is a space that evolves over time, but we seldom take note of how it’s evolving. Even narrow lanes change, but no one records anything. We are a cultural institute and we felt that it was important to dedicate a little space to the city in our premises. We convinced our trustees, and began to hold exhibitions in the Mumbai Gallery in the extension wing [the gallery was opened in October 2024]. The digital library will focus not only on built heritage, but also the surroundings, like street temples and landscape, the patterns of movement and changing lifestyles, all of which are an indelible part of the city’s character,” Mukherjee said.
{{/usCountry}}The idea behind starting such an archive first struck Mukherjee and his team in 2016-17. “The city is a space that evolves over time, but we seldom take note of how it’s evolving. Even narrow lanes change, but no one records anything. We are a cultural institute and we felt that it was important to dedicate a little space to the city in our premises. We convinced our trustees, and began to hold exhibitions in the Mumbai Gallery in the extension wing [the gallery was opened in October 2024]. The digital library will focus not only on built heritage, but also the surroundings, like street temples and landscape, the patterns of movement and changing lifestyles, all of which are an indelible part of the city’s character,” Mukherjee said.
{{/usCountry}}The plan is to extend the archive to the intangible heritage of Mumbai, which includes the oral histories of its residents, Mukherjee said.
“This is only the beginning. We will go beyond the buildings, and look at precincts and neighbourhoods, as well as lost buildings which are already gone. The library will not be complete without digital partnerships with other institutions. We’re looking at other digital archives, and more collectors to partner with us,” Dalvi said, on the sidelines of a day-long symposium that was held on Friday at the Museum to announce the project.
The importance of such an archive cannot be understated, said professor and author of Mumbai’s urban history Mariam Dossal, in her keynote address on Friday. She gave the example of the Watson’s Esplanade hotel in Fort, which is the world’s first multi-storeyed habitable building to carry all loads, including the brick curtain walls, on an iron frame. This information was made available only through detailed investigation by architectural historian Jonathan Clarke, Dossal said, pointing to the importance of disseminating knowledge about Mumbai’s built heritage among its residents. “This is how we instil a sense of civic pride in its residents. In the face of such knowledge, and civic duty, short-term greed will not be allowed to thrive,” she said.