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Metropolitan Building
Metropolitan Building
	Metropolitan Building in Esplanade, Kolkata, from the Chowringhee Crossing
Former names	Whiteway & Laidlaw department store
General information
Status	Used as a residential and a commercial building
Address	7, Chowringhee Road
Town or city	Kolkata
Country	India
Coordinates	22°33′49″N 88°21′06″E / 22.5637°N 88.3516°E
Elevation	9.509 m
Current tenants	Life Insurance Corporation of India & houses many offices & stores such as Big Bazaar & the Central Cottage Industry Showroom.
Construction started	1905
Owner	Life Insurance Corporation of India
Website
	Website

Metropolitan Building is a commercial building on Chowringhee Road in Kolkata near Esplanade. Formerly known as the Whiteaway Laidlaw department store, it was a famous department stores in Calcutta during the British Rule in India. It is one of the first departmental store in India. This neo-baroque emporium—with domes, a clock tower and arched recessed windows—exemplifies fashionable shopping during the British Raj in British India.

The building was built in 1905. Post Independence, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. assumed ownership against a borrower default and named the building, so people know it, more commonly, as Metropolitan Building. In 1956, Metropolitan Insurance was nationalised under the Life Insurance Act of parliament and the LIC took over the company and its assets from its owning family, the Bhattacharyas. The family continued adverse occupation of a large part of the building for years after the acquisition and appealed to the courts over the next three generations intil all claimants had died. The LIC eventually obtained full possession and is the current owner.^[1]^[2] It is located near the Shaheed Minar and the Grand Hotel and is just opposite of the new Esplanade Metro Station.

History

The building was built in 1905.

After Independence, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. assumed ownership, so people know it more commonly as Metropolitan Building as the building also housed the Metropolitan Bank, another family-owned financial enterprise.

The building's clock tower seen at the end of the photo taken in Esplanade, Calcutta in 1945

Renovation

The building was restored by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). But it still houses a commercial complex.^[3] The building was freshly repainted with white and golden paint and its exterior structure was also renovated while making extensive changes within.

Features

It is a large beautiful building recognisable by its corner tower with the dome raised high on a pavilion. Rustication in the ground floor and a semicircular arched arcade in the first floor. The facade is punctuated by a series of projected and pedimented bays with plain columns and Corinthian capitals.^[4]