Custom House at Ballard Pier

Description

Before 1911, the Custom department at Mumbai was accommodated in two main buildings namely the Fort Custom House and the Branch Custom House at the Princess Docks. In view of the increase in the volume of trade and customs clearances, the Department of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, under which the Customs Department was then working, appointed a committee in 1907 to consider the question of arrangements to be made for the transaction of the Customs business on completion of new Alexandra Docks under construction by the Bombay Port Trust. The committee recommended the closing of the Fort Custom House and construction of a New Central Custom House on site located by them. Consequently, a general plan and sketch of the estimate of cost were prepared for the construction of the New Custom House on the consolidated site (Ballard Estate) and submitted for the approval of Government of India.The final approval for the construction of New Custom House at Mumbai was granted in 1911 at the cost of Rs. 22 lacs including the cost of the main building and the old building. The structural cost of the main building was Rs.15.42 lacs and had a foundation with an average depth of 30ft beneath the harbour mud. At that time, the New Custom House was a unique building of this nature and the highest constructional rate of 8 anna per cubic feet was estimated.The construction was completed in 1913. However, with the start of the First World War it was converted into a military hospital (the vestiges of which can still be seen in the white tiles on the walls of staircase next to the entrance). The building was formally handed over to the Customs Department in 1922. The New Custom House was designed by George Wittet, then Consulting Architect to the Government of Bombay, in what came to be known as the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture.The New Custom House was designed by George Wittet, then Consulting Architect to the Government of Bombay, in what came to be known as the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, which he introduced to the city with his senior and predecessor John Begg. Wittet is best known for designing the Gateway of India, built to commemorate the visit of King George the Vth in 1911. Other notable buildings designed by Wittet are Prince of Wales Museum (now Chattrapati Shivaji Vaastu Sangrahalaya) near Kala Ghoda, Small Causes Court at Dhobi Talao, KEM Hospital, etc. Indo-Saracenic architecture would astutely incorporate telling indigenous ÒAsian ExoticismÓ elements, whilst implementing British engineering innovations supporting such elaborate constructions.