22 June,2025 12:15 PM IST | Mumbai | Meher Marfatia
The Army & Navy Building at Kala Ghoda, a historic landmark for several significant reasons, dating from 1891. Pic/Atul Kamble
The Bombay Fort walls were demolished by 1864 in the expansion plan actioned by Governor Henry Bartle Frere. It introduced some striking features. Before the "colonnaded arcade" concept became visible along DN Road, this was evidenced at Army & Navy Building and the two buildings flanking it.
This design element extended beyond, to 1860s-erected Watson's Hotel (Esplanade Mansion). Right-flanking Army & Navy Building, it is famed for being the country's first pre-fabricated cast iron structure and the place at which the Lumiere brothers screened six shorts in 1896 - heralding cinema in India. On the left of the Army & Navy Building, the David Sassoon Library and Reading Room was earlier the Mechanics Institute, funded by Sassoon to impart technical education and host lectures.
Front page of Pulse, newsletter of the Leslie Sawhny Endowment Trust
The Army & Navy Cooperative Society was formed by military officers in London in 1871, to supply articles of domestic use at best rates. When British personnel in India requested a similar operation, the first Army & Navy Stores opened in 1891, prior to Calcutta, Delhi, Shimla, Ranchi and other British posts. Besides groceries and clothing missed from "home", the stores provided expatriates travel and funeral arrangements.
Designed by Frederick William Stevens with his partner David Gostling, the style of the four-storeyed, Grade II heritage structure was Italianate with Neo Classical features. It was rebuilt after a fire broke out in 1896, contoured on Classical Revivalist lines.
City historian Foy Nissen regaled us, in our younger reporter days, with a boyhood account of tagging along with his parents who paused shopping for tea at a quite pricey cafe here. Another Bombayphile, Gerson da Cunha, relished the aroma of coffee beans freshly ground for customers. His family drove here from Mazagaon in their green Fiat with brass fittings.
Colonel Leslie Sawhny, the socially-conscious visionary. Pics Courtesy/Leslie Sawhny Endowment
The Tatas took over the building in the 1950s. Its various companies occupy each floor. The original facade seems essentially preserved, with neatly paired columns and units of balustrades on upper floors. The building front is dressed in Malad stone and the rear in grey-black basalt, ie Kurla stone.
Three-fourths of a century separate Army & Navy Stores from the lifestyle store replacing it. When Westside greeted the public in 1999, the main door of the building moved within its interior. That once-centred entrance therefore shifted rightwards.
Restoring the building for an extensive span of years from 1997 (to coincide with celebrating 50 years of Independence), conservation architect Vikas Dilawari had explained how the high pitch and hip tiled roof, with teakwood trusses around a central rectangular terrace, is an interesting typology. Special features include the steel water tank above the roof resting on a raised brick tower and cantilevered balcony with a walkway all round. The continuously flowing rear balcony wears cast iron brackets, painted green and gold for a military connotation.
Members of the Marg magazine team in the mid-1990s. FILE PIC COURTESY/MARG
"The building lobby was used by Marg and other publishers as a book stall in the early years of the Kala Ghoda Art Festival (KGAF). Subsequently, the Kala Ghoda Association (KGA) was permitted to use the lobby as an art gallery year-round," says Radhika Sabavala, former general manager of Marg Publications. "The first festival was conceived in Marg with help from Amita Desai from Max Mueller Bhavan and me from Marg."
"Art displays in the foyer encouraged artists unable to exhibit at Jehangir Art Gallery opposite," says Farokh N Subedar, former Chief Operating Officer, Tata Sons, who approved the idea requested by Shirin Bharucha of the KGA.
"People loved visiting the Art Entrance gallery. The friendly space did well in this beautiful high-ceilinged lobby, until COVID," says Brinda Miller, then Festival Director, KGAF, presently Honorary Chairperson of the KGA and Artists' Centre.
The Artists' Centre has an at least 60-year history. Miller says, "The baby of KH Ara, among the Progressives who thrived in this district, it welcomed upcoming artists. The Centre survives with KGA support. Having vacated the Ador House premises, we're glad the relocation is still in Kala Ghoda, in Army & Navy Building. Now, many more members look forward to this new venue."
Nayab Prasad Kanojia at his variety stall outside the building. PIC/ATUL KAMBLE
Another important organisation ran from 1973 to 2018 on the third floor: the Leslie Sawhny Centre. The husband of JRD Tata's sister Rodabeh, visionary Colonel Leslie Sawhny championed democracy, a civil liberties society and a free press. It was he who convinced JRD of the need for data processing via a single business unit, birthing Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Following his brother-in-law's sudden death in 1966, JRD established the Leslie Sawhny Endowment in 1973, to honour his ideals. Its twin aims - education for the underprivileged and promotion of public utility without profit - were realised in widely attended seminars and social events addressed by prominent speakers like the trust's first Chairman, Nani Palkhivala, and Vice-Chairman, Minoo Masani. The newsletter, Pulse, gave updates on far-reaching activities undertaken.
Major General Cyrus Pithawalla, one of the most decorated flag officers in the Indian Armed Forces, is Director of the Endowment's Deolali centre, conducting programmes that upskill community engagement, health awareness, leadership and e-commerce. Under the chairmanship of FN Subedar, the Leslie Sawhny Programme continues to fulfil the vital roles of its inception.
Standing strong for 40 years is the small pavement stall of Nayab Prasad Kanojia who came from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. He stocks everything from pens, locks and gas lighters to torches, nail clippers and umbrellas. "Chalta hai business. Not what it was when the Indian Airlines booking office was on the ground floor," he shares.
We bought stationery from him on our way to work. This building is a personal favourite. Throughout the 1990s I was the text editor of Marg magazine - in an office nestled in the building's southwest section, round the corner from the Leslie Sawhny Centre.
Seven ads and two rooms launched Marg, the art history journal of global eminence. The premises were granted by JRD Tata on meeting writer Mulk Raj Anand. Struck by the spectacular friezes of Ajanta, Anand gathered a group of activists and intellectuals. Riding on the idealism of a freshly minted nation, Marg released in October 1946, amid the end of World War II and dawn of Indian Independence.
The initials spelt out Modern Architectural Research Group (MARG). Parallelly, the Sanskrit meaning of the word - path - implies Marg showing the way to Indian civilisation. Nearly 80 years later, its content remains rich, proactively apace with great scholars and subscribers redefining the future of culture.
This is where I worked through two pregnancies, enveloped in the care the wonderful Marg sisterhood extended. Waddling in with a bellyful of baby, I heard the twitter of just-born koels nested outside the editorial cabin. I was spoilt with incessant offers of food and rest. If I climbed to the sloped-roof attic where the magazine designers sat, watchful eyes ensured I legged it up safely.
Making sure to satisfy sweet cravings she thought I felt was gently solicitous Savita. A friend of forty years, much before we teamed together at Marg, clad in trademark crisp cottons, she often led me to the Tata Cooperative Store downstairs in the lunch break. Her own buy was invariably High Range strawberry preserve from Munnar, not forgetting Tata eau de cologne for a senior colleague who also patronised the dairy outlet perched lower than road level, accessed from behind the building.
We lost Savita last week. And cannot see the Army & Navy Building without a hundred happy memories surging. Her understated presence will always stay with us. Beloved friend, of the wry wit and quiet wisdom, soft heart and steadfast mind - this one's for you, Savi.
Where history meets art
1. The Bombay Municipal Corporation offices were at the site of this building at Kala Ghoda, shifted from Girgaum in 1870
2.âThis is among the city's earliest structures to have a basement and arcade with granite shafts
3.âA cultural gem, birthing the country's largest art festival, it is marked grandly from a triangular crowning pediment to entranceway arches
Author-publisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay. You can reach her at meher.marfatia@mid-day.com/www.meher marfatia.com
