Civic body restores sandstone structure in Girgaon, which possibly served as a jail during British Raj and maternity home later
The facade of the century-old building during and after restoration. Pics/By Special Arrangement
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is set to reopen an approximately 100-year-old heritage school building in Khetwadi, Girgaon, as a municipal school during the next academic year. The structure was closed for at least a decade, as extensive restoration was being carried out by the civic heritage conservation cell.
Civic officials believe the building, now known as the Khetwadi Municipal School, served as a maternity home until the 1970s and was subsequently converted into a school. During the British Era, it likely served as a detaining cell (jail) for freedom fighters, according to heritage conservationists who have been working with the civic body. A senior civic official said, “We can estimate the building is at least a century old, going by its architectural design and layout, which is very unique to that time period.”
The Khetwadi Municipal School building’s cornice and dome before and after restoration. Pics/By Special Arrangement
Prachi Jambekar, deputy municipal commissioner in charge of BMC’s education department, said, “The building is now set to reopen as a school during the next academic year. The heritage conservation cell handed over the building to us after restoration in May this year. We have since initiated all processes required to start the school in time for the next academic year.”
The facility will be reopened for nursery students in June next year. “This is the standard process. We start with balwadis or nurseries in the very first year when we open new schools. With natural progression, the school opens for the higher academic standards or grades over the subsequent years.”
Rich history
A senior civic official said, “During the renovation, a citizen walked in to enquire what work was taking place. He said he was interested because his mother had told him that he was born in this building in the 1970s, as it served as a maternity home. There are no records we could assess offhand.” During the restoration work on the building, heritage conservation architects noticed that several features of the building align with the prospect that it was used to detain people during the freedom struggle.
Pankaj Kathole, an architect who worked with Shashank Mehendale and Associates, was roped in by the BMC during the restoration process. He said, “A very prominent feature of this building is its elevation on all four sides of the structure. When we study other structures from the same time period constructed by the British government, we notice this pattern, such as the municipal school in Madanpura and Gol Deol. These are all part of the same circuit.” The administration of the time designed buildings with an elevation, in an attempt to build the narrative of putting the British Raj on a pedestal, Kathole explained.
It is also possible that the school was used as a detaining cell during the Jail Bharo Andolan. “The planning and layout of the building are pretty simple. The rooms look like cells. There were common toilets on one side. The windows were all protected with grills or barricaded. The cells are very much like barracks,” Kathole said. Another unique feature of the structure is the stone staircases that protrude from the main building.
BMC’s efforts
The main building is made of Malad sandstone, while the cornice and other decorative features are of limestone. The BMC carried out major structural repairs to the building at a cost of Rs 4.1 crore in 2024-25.
Some cracks were at least three centimetres wide in several walls of the building. Over time, this can present a threat of the building ‘falling apart’ or collapsing, according to experts. They were stitched together by use of steel rods using a method called Helifix stitching, which uses a special grounding method that utilises steel rods to fill the cracks and restore the structural integrity of the building. “Considering that the building will now be used as a school, we have taken into account a large footfall during morning and afternoon hours and fixed the load-bearing capacity of the ground-plus-two-storey structure,” an official said.
The BMC undertook comprehensive structural repairs and heritage restoration. All dilapidated slabs were re-cast using reinforced cement concrete to restore structural integrity. Restoration techniques employed included lime plastering for internal classroom walls, lime mortar pressure grouting for voids and wall gaps, and brick bat coba waterproofing with China chip finish on the terrace. Additionally, external Malad sandstone masonry was raked and repointed, and the limestone decorative elements were restored with lime plastic repairs.
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