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Watson's Hotel
Watson's Hotel
	Façade of Watson's hotel, now known as the Esplanade Mansion
	Location within Mumbai
General information
Location	Mahatma Gandhi Road, Fort, Mumbai, India
Coordinates	18°55′42″N 72°49′52″E / 18.9283°N 72.8311°E
Construction started	1867; 157 years ago
Completed	1869; 155 years ago
Client	John Watson
Technical details
Structural system	Cast iron
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Rowland Mason Ordish
Engineer	Rowland Mason Ordish
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Criteria	Cultural: (ii) (iv)
Designated	2018 (43rd session)
Part of	Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai
Reference no.	1480

Watson's Hotel (actually Watson's Esplanade Hotel), now known as the Esplanade Mansion, located in the Kala Ghoda area of Mumbai (Bombay), is India's oldest surviving cast iron building.^[1] It is probably the oldest surviving multi-level fully cast-iron framed building in the world, being three years earlier than the Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel, France, which are both amongst the few ever built. Named after its original owner, John Watson, the cast and wrought iron structure of the building was prefabricated in England, and it was constructed between 1867 and 1869.

The hotel was leased on 26 August 1867 for the terms of 999 years at yearly rent of Rupees 92 and 12 annas to Abdul Haq. It was closed in the 1960s and was later subdivided and partitioned into smaller cubicles that were let out on rent as homes and offices. Neglect of the building has resulted in decay and, despite its listing as a Grade II–A heritage structure, the building is now in a dilapidated state. A documentary film about the building was made in 2019 called The Watson's Hotel.

Design

Watson's Hotel was designed by the civil engineer Rowland Mason Ordish, who had worked on the Crystal Palace in London in 1850, and went on to design a number of cast and wrought-iron structures such as bridges and market halls, notably the Albert Bridge in London the St Pancras Station station roof (co-designer). The building's cast iron and wrought-iron components were prefabricated by the Phoenix Foundry Company in Derby, England, and assembled on site. The iron frame is composed of relatively large-scale pieces, heavier than that used on the Crystal Palace, able to support the five levels, timber and tile floors, and the infill brick walling.

The design responded to the tropical environment by placing the access on external cantilevered walkways that surround the main facades, and incorporating a large lightwell behind.^[2]

The Menier Chocolate Factory in Noisiel, France, designed by architect Jules Saulnier, is often credited as the first multi-story building with a structure entirely composed of cast-iron, but it was built slightly years later, beginning in 1869, completed in 1872.

History

John Hudson Watson was born in 1818 in Castle Carrock, England to a farming family, but moved to London in the 1840s and established a drapery business. Arriving with his brother and two sons in Bombay in 1853, they developed a successful drapery business.^[3] Buying plots 11 & 12 at the first auction of newly created Esplanade sites in August 1864, his original plan for the building was to use it as additional office and showroom for his thriving business nearby, but by late 1865 the plans had evolved into a luxury hotel, and he started to begin to ship prefabricated cast iron components from England as early as October 1865.^[3] According to the text on a painting commissioned by Watson's son in c1901 that now hangs at the Watson Institute in Castle Carrock, all elements including the cast iron, brick, stone and tiles, were imported.^[4] The hotel was built between 1867 and 1869, but interior work meant it did not finally open until 4 February 1871.^[3] By then, Watson had returned to England, where he died in May 1871, leaving his son John Watson Jr, to manage the hotel and drapery business. The original design, as displayed on the painting in the Watson Institute, included plans for traditional European mansard roof, however it was built as a simplified flat roofed form. The hotel was an exclusive Europeans-only business, and it was one of the most renowned hotels in the city in its day. The five-storied structure housed 130 guest rooms, as well as a lobby, restaurant and a bar at the ground level. The hotel also had a 30 by 9 metres (98 ft × 30 ft) atrium, originally used as a ballroom, with a glass skylight. At its peak, Watson's hotel employed English waitresses in its restaurant and ballroom, inspiring a common joke at the time: "If only Watson had imported the English weather as well."^[2]^[5]

Ownership appears to have been vested in Watson's wife Hannah Maria Watson, who entered into a lease deed with Sardar Abdul Haq, Diler ul Mulk, and Diler ul Daula, for a term of nine hundred and ninety nine years on 26 August 1867.^[6]

John Watson Jr returned to England in 1896, and with competition from the grand Taj Mahal Hotel which opened in 1903, Watson's lost its premier status. In 1920, Watson's ceased to be a hotel, and had been renamed Mahendra Mansion. It 1944, it was renamed Esplanade Mansion, and in the 1960s it was partitioned into small cubicles and rented converted as housing and offices.

Over the years, apathy toward the building by the occupants and owners has resulted the building decaying, the atrium has been used as a dumping ground, there are several illegal alterations, and by 2005 it was in a seriously dilapidated state. One of the possible reasons proffered is the fact that the rent collected is low, and cannot be raised sufficiently due to rent stabilisation laws, and tenants are also protected.^[1] As of 2005^[update], building had 53 families and 97 commercial establishments. Most of the commercial establishments are chambers of lawyers attached to the adjacent Bombay Civil & Session Courts and the nearby Bombay High Court.^[2]^[5]

Having been owned by the Tatas, in the early 80s it was sold to Sadik Ali.^[7]

Between 1880s-1900s.^[8]
Watson's Hotel (c. 19th century).
Restored and recolored image of Watson's Esplanade Hotel using period descriptions of the hotel's structure. Note the alterations to the terrace and wooden window panels, which differ from earlier paintings due to renovations.
'The John Watson Building, Bombay India' the painting showing the original design, now hanging in the Watson Institute, Castle Carrock.

Notable guests

Among the hotel's notable guests was Mark Twain, who wrote about the city's crows he saw outside his balcony in Following the Equator.^[9] It was also the first place in India to screen the Lumière Brothers' Cinematographe invention in 1896.^{[citation needed]}

Muhammad Ali Jinnah used to play pool in the hotel, to make a little extra money for himself.^[10]

A popular myth surround the hotel was that the staff at Watson's Hotel denied Indian industrialist Jamsetji Tata access to the hotel. In retaliation he built the Taj Hotel, a hotel that stands near the Gateway of India, in 1903.^[2]^[5] However many historians, notably author Sharada Dwivedi, dispute this legend on the basis of a lack of evidence to prove that "Tata was a man of vengeance".^[11]

Current state

The building's poor structural condition has been commonly remarked, and efforts by heritage activists to persuade its present owner to invest in restoration have been unsuccessful. The current state of the building was publicized by Italian architect Renzo Piano, and as a result of his efforts, the building was listed in June 2005 on the list of "100 World Endangered Monuments" by the World Monuments Fund, a New York-based NGO.^[12] Just a few days after its nomination, part of the building's western façade, originally balconies developed into small offices, collapsed, killing one person and crushing several cars and motorcycles parked in the street below.

The building is listed as a Grade II–A heritage structure.^[2]^[5] On 13 June 2010, the Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC) gave its approval for the 130-year-old structure to be restored. The restoration work was to be paid for and carried out by the Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA).^[13]

No action was taken until 2019 when MHADA sought advice on restoration from a panel from IIT, wherein they observed "Repairs will be dangerous as many structural elements of the building are not rigidly connected to each other.. it will be prudent to demolish Esplanade Mansion", a decision immediately decried by heritage advocates.^[14] Whether or not to restore the buildings, how it would be funded and the rights of the tenants have, were then subject of various court cases through 2020; an expert panel appointed by the court had determined by January 2020 that the building could and should be restored.^[15] In 2021, the restoration proposal was under consideration.^[16]

Gallery

Recent view of the Restoration
Esplanade Mansion at night
Another view of Esplanade Mansion at night

First picture depicts the restoration as of 09 February 2024.

References

^ ^a ^b Choudhury, Chitrangada (24 June 2005). "Now listed as 'endangered', Watson's Hotel was once toast of Bombay". Indian Express. Express Group. Archived from the original on 12 June 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "India's 'cast iron' bldg crumble". Mumbai Mirror. Times Group. 2 July 2005.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Castle Carrock - Watson's Esplanade Hotel". www.castlecarrock.com. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
^ The inscription reads "“This building was designed in London for John Watson of Gelt Hall by Messrs Ordish and Le Febre. The materials for this were wholly English; the iron frame from Derby, the bricks and cement from the bank of the Thames, the tiles from Staffordshire, and finally the red stone plinth and column bases from Penrith.”
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Watson! You are a forgotten soul". The Times of India. 23 June 2005. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011.
^ Later on, another indenture was made on the date 22 12 1885, between the trustees of Port Trust of Bombay and Sardar Diler ul Mulk in which land on the Wellington Reclamation Estate of Bombay of 8129 sq.yards was leased by the Sardar Abdul Haq for a term of fifty years from 01-01-1880.
^ "Rs. 450 crore heritage mansion up for redevelopment, Mid-Day.com, 4 July 2013". Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 19 November 2016.
^ "View of the Watson's Hotel or Esplanade Mansion, Bombay". Sarmaya. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024. Retrieved 24 June 2024.
^ Twain, Mark (1897). "The Indian Crow". Following the Equator — A journey around the world. American Publishing Co., Hartford. p. 355.
^ Zakaria, Namrata (7 October 2009). "Jaswant in 'Jinnah's Bombay': Jinnah House belongs to daughter". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
^ Choksi, Mansi (16 December 2008). "Unbreakable: An Enduring Symbol Of Mumbai's Culture, Heritage And Global Status Turns 105 Today". Times of India. Times Group.
^ Joshi, Monika (21 June 2005). "Mumbai's Watson's Hotel in endangered structures list". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2005.
^ Jain, Bhavika (13 June 2010). "MHADA to restore Esplanade Mansion". Hindustan Times. Mumbai. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
^ "Mumbai: Experts stunned as IIT-B says, pull down Esplanade Mansion". mid-day. 23 May 2019. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
^ Deshpande, Swati (28 January 2020). "Esplanade Mansion can be restored, will cost Rs 100 crore for 50-year lease of life, Bombay high court told | Mumbai News". The Times of India. TNN. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
^ "Heritage panel to consider Esplanade Mansion owner's restoration proposal soon: BMC to Bombay HC". The Indian Express. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2023.