The Esplanade Mansion in Kala Ghoda has none of the traits typical of a world monument. Throngs of tourists are not ambling in and out. There are no expository signs informing about its 144-year-old history, nor a band of security guards to mind its four storeys. Instead, it is dressed in threadbare bits of tarpaulin, the windows seem forlorn and the bottoms of balconies have given away like the milk teeth of a six-year-old.
In the company of regal neighbours such as the Army and Navy building and the David Sassoon Library, Indias oldest surviving cast-iron building looks almost embarrassed. Dismissed by some locals as a juna (old) building, Esplanade used to be a gleaming hotel called Watsons, from the 1860s until the 1960s. Founded by architect and hotelier John Watson, the structure had novel iron components flown in from England and assembled on site.
The hotels rich past, though not entirely admirable, has been forgotten. Initially, the establishment was open only to the British, with even the waitresses hailing from England. A skylit atrium, now filled with garbage and illegal tenements, was once a ballroom. One myth holds that Jamsetji Tata started the Taj Mahal hotel after feeling humiliated at not being allowed entry into Watsons. American author Mark Twain stayed here briefly and wrote an essay on the Indian crow. In 1896, Europeans gathered at the hotel to watch the first screening of the earliest films of the Lumire brothers for Rs 1. The current owner, Sadiq Ali, brushes away such historical references that happened 200 years ago. I bought the building only 40 years ago.
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Cement bags and junk are piling on each floor. For the evident disrepair and squalor, Ali blames MHADA, saying it pegged the repair budget at an inflated Rs 17 crore. The engineers he consulted have offered to mend the structure for much less at Rs 3 crore. But MHADA says its estimate is based on guidance of the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) that the materials used in repair should be similar to those in the original construction. The Rs 1.23-crore collected so far by MHADA as cess for emergencies is being used for urgent patching up.
Efforts to evacuate the building for restoration have failed, says Prasad Lad, chairman of the Mumbai Repair and Reconstruction Board at MHADA. Tenants filed an affidavit that they will continue to be there at their own risk. They are also unwilling to contribute towards refurbishment, he says.
For some tenants, the place is a good luck charm. Many occupants flourished and left. Others have done well and bought property elsewhere but continue to work here, says a commercial tenant. Advocate Vipin Kamdi moved into a small office on the first floor four years ago, when space freed up after some people left the crumbling building. He wishes maintenance was up to the mark as clients who come to meet him have to dodge leaking pipes and bamboo sticks that are propping up the ceiling. But the location matters. Its right next to the Bombay Civil & Sessions Court and the Bombay High Court.
Several occupants even vouch for the strong foundation. The iron framework can easily support the wooden floor and stairs, says the owner of a stationery shop. But in 2006, one of the balconies reportedly collapsed, killing a person. The iron beams have corroded in places and lately vegetation has sprouted on parts of the exterior.
Lawyer and historian Rajan Jayakar says activists have been suggesting plans for more than a decade but things have not moved. The government should acquire it under the Land Acquisition Act and start refurbishing with corporate support, he says. But it would have to be done as charity because the expenses on repairs and removing tenants may not see full returns.
Until the tussle is resolved, like so much of Mumbais heritage, the Esplanade Mansion will continue to be unloved.
