Built in the European Renaissance style between 1908-14, it was planned as a premium business district, with forty-three blocks of neat office buildings with broad, well-kept thoroughfares — comparable to the very best in the British Empire at that time.u00a0Towards its southern end, opposite the New Customs House, is the bronze and gilt-edged Port Trust War Memorial, erected by the Bombay Port Trust.u00a0

A closer look at this almost-forgotten memorial and one learns of the invaluable support provided by the Port Trust for the greater cause of World War I. The first transport for the War left from the city’s port on August 21, 1914. On the memorial, a plaque reads: