100 years of Mumbai’s glorious Art Deco heritage

The Art Deco aesthetic first exploded onto the scene in 1925 at an iconic architectural exhibition in Paris.

Over the next hundred years, this charming architectural style – reminiscent of neon-lit jazz bars and the golden age of blockbuster movies – spread rapidly around the world.

It moved from the famous pastel hotel facades of Miami’s South Beach to the rows of mansion apartments along Mumbai’s Marine Drive.

Unique themes of decorative arts – represented by geometric figures Ziggurat (stepped tower), sweeping curves, sunburst designs, nautical elements and round or tower roofs – symbolizing a clear break with the past and celebrating the dawn of a new, unabashed post-war 20th century modern era.

In a short time, the style transcended architecture, influencing home interiors, furniture, typefaces, jewelry and the design sense of some of the world’s most iconic cinemas – from New York City’s Radio City Music Hall to Mumbai’s Regal, Liberty and Eros Cinemas.

“It represents hope, optimism and speed, coinciding with the advent of the automobile and concrete as a building material that can be constructed in one-tenth the time and one-fifth the cost compared to stone,” Atul Kumar, founder of the Art Deco Bombay Trust and curator of a new exhibition celebrating the city’s centenary of Art Deco, told the BBC.

“It’s not as elaborate as previous Victorian Gothic designs, but has a classicism and simplicity that has stood the test of time,” he said.

Nowhere is this more evident than in Mumbai, which Mr. Kumar said has the largest recorded collection of Art Deco buildings in the world. Other estimates place Mumbai in second place behind Miami.

What makes Mumbai’s tryst with Art Deco particularly interesting is how the city embraces its icons in a truly all-encompassing way.

Like Miami, this style emerged in the city during a period of economic upheaval and transformation, driven by the dynamism of the modern commercial port city.

But unlike Miami “as a projection of leisure or spectacle,” in Mumbai “the style resonates in a variety of building types such as schools, cinemas, bungalows, petrol stations and banks,” Mr. Kumar said.

Mumbai’s Art Deco buildings were and still are often hidden in plain sight, and even their occupants are often blissfully unaware of their cultural underpinnings.

But Mr. Kumar added that their ubiquitous architectural shadow in the city is perhaps why Art Deco “penetrated the larger public imagination and remains relevant in Mumbai’s emotional intelligence”.

This style was introduced to Mumbai during the colonial period.

This was something that one of India’s first indigenous architects – key figures such as Chimanlal Master, Laxman Vishnu Sathe and Gopalji Mulji Bhuta – incorporated into their designs after returning home with degrees from the Royal Institute of British Architects in London.

“They were suddenly exposed to new European sensibilities and wanted to bring them back to their country, which had been deeply colonized by Victorian architecture,” Mr Kumar said.

But they adapted Art Deco and localized it, incorporating vernacular design patterns and drawing inspiration from different local elements, including the ocean liners that docked in Bombay harbor and even the lattice screens typical of Mughal architecture.

Kumar said the British were initially dismissive of it, calling Art Deco “lesser architecture”, but may have come under threat because it marked the dawn of a new era and a new identity that was shaping India’s public spaces.

It is only a matter of time before South Mumbai’s skyline will become a rich intersection of Indo-Saracenic, Gothic and Art Deco architecture.

Today, Mumbai is once again a rapidly changing city – one whose building codes are controlled by real estate tycoons seeking to maximize floor area index, giving way to utilitarian rather than stylistic considerations.

Dozens of Art Deco buildings have been demolished and replaced with glass and steel facades, and hundreds more are threatened.

Over the past decade, Mr Kumar has documented more than 1,500 buildings that truly represent the style, but only more than 70 of them are protected.

The authorities are indifferent to their preservation, so his organization engages directly with people, providing pro bono repair and rehabilitation advice to prevent them from handing their properties over to builders for reconstruction.

“The response has been positive as people have seen their properties increase in value after renovations,” Mr Kumar said.

There are others, such as architect and designer Nidhi Tekwani, who is reimagining Art Deco objects and looking to adapt them to contemporary contexts.

For example, Art Deco furniture is often bulky, its light fixtures suitable for high ceilings, and its dressing tables too delicate for today’s compact apartments. Ms. Tekwani’s goal was to design and launch more fashionable products while retaining core Art Deco principles.

“We wanted to transform it into something modern and suitable for our current lifestyle requirements,” Ms. Tekwani said of her efforts to keep Art Deco’s living tradition alive in this ever-changing city.

Follow BBC India News Instagram, Youtube, X and Facebook.