Watson's Hotel

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.

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 as 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, 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]

• 
  In the late 1860s.
• 
  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.

Esplanade Mansion c 2011 with Rajabai Clock Tower in the background

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.[8] It was also the first place in India to screen the Lumière Brothers' Cinematographe invention in 1896.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah used to play pool in the hotel, to make a little extra money for himself.[9]

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".[10]

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.[11] 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).[12]

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.[13] 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.[14] In 2021, the restoration proposal was under consideration.[15]

• Esplanade House, Jamsetji Tata's residence from 1885 to 1887

• Cast-iron architecture

• United States Capitol dome constructed using cast iron