Elphinstone Circle - Bombay - 1869
Elphinstone Circle, Fort.
Reminiscent of Bath's Royal Crescent, Elphinstone Circle was the centrepiece of colonial urban planning for Bombay in the boom years of the 1860s. Designed by James Scott, Chief Engineer of the Elphinstone Land Co, the uniform crescent of arcaded commercial buildings combined elegant premises within wide (thereby healthy) streets and set around the former Bombay Green. This very English streetscape and central garden once contained statues of Cornwallis and Wellesley.
An 1872 plan of the area shows that the building in the photo above was then occupied by the Chartered Mercantile Bank. The British Library online gallery has a fantastic collection of early photographs from its collection. To view a remarkable photo of the same building taken in 1870 (photographer unknown), go to www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/e/largeim...
Named after the former Governor of Bombay, Lord John Elphinstone, it was renamed Horniman Circle after Independence in honour of Benjamin Horniman, the editor of the 'Bombay Chronicle' newspaper who had supported home rule.
Elphinstone Circle - Bombay - 1869
Elphinstone Circle, Fort.
Reminiscent of Bath's Royal Crescent, Elphinstone Circle was the centrepiece of colonial urban planning for Bombay in the boom years of the 1860s. Designed by James Scott, Chief Engineer of the Elphinstone Land Co, the uniform crescent of arcaded commercial buildings combined elegant premises within wide (thereby healthy) streets and set around the former Bombay Green. This very English streetscape and central garden once contained statues of Cornwallis and Wellesley.
An 1872 plan of the area shows that the building in the photo above was then occupied by the Chartered Mercantile Bank. The British Library online gallery has a fantastic collection of early photographs from its collection. To view a remarkable photo of the same building taken in 1870 (photographer unknown), go to www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/apac/photocoll/e/largeim...
Named after the former Governor of Bombay, Lord John Elphinstone, it was renamed Horniman Circle after Independence in honour of Benjamin Horniman, the editor of the 'Bombay Chronicle' newspaper who had supported home rule.