A century on, a mini-palace has changed hands, but not its name
According to city historian Rao, the estate was first home to Robert Money School, before commercial establishments came up.
Jer Mahal stands almost as a gateway into the peaceful by-lanes of Dhobi Talao and still houses city’s iconic shops, clubs for Goans. ( Source: Express photo )
For a century now, the defining image when one moves towards Marine Lines has been six stories of wide open wooden balconies. The imposing structure stands almost as the gateway into the peaceful by-lanes of Dhobi Talao. But now, the heritage structure Jer Mahal is wracked by disrepair and faces an uncertain future.
Jer Mahal is a cluster of seven buildings enclosing each other and straddling JSS Road and Kalbadevi Road. The legend goes that its builder named each structure after family members. “Most of the buildings were named after either his daughters or wife. So you have Jer Mahal, Dhan Mahal, Soona Mahal, Behram Mahal, Fram Mahal, Dinshaw Mahal and Jer Mahal Annexe,” says Karan Rai of the Bombay Sports, which has been housed in the building for a century now.
A pair of arches that open up on JSS Road and Kalbadevi Road are a throwback to the era of the locality’s heydays. “Horse carriages would pass through those arches and the passage was much wider. Now though, shops have partially encroached upon both arches,” says city historian Deepak Rao.
According to Rao, the estate was first home to Robert Money School, before commercial establishments came up. Soon after construction, it was sold to the B. B. Taraporewala family, which in turn sold the estate to Rohan Lifescapes in the 1980s.
The ground floor of Jer Mahal also houses some iconic south Mumbai establishments like Kyani and Company, LM Furtado & Co, Bombay Sports and Universal Book Store — all of which are nearly a century old.
In the decades since, much has changed in the locality, but nothing has diminished the building’s visibility. “I remember that a tram line would run across the road and that there was a circle around Fitzgerald Fountain (since removed and currently housed in Bhau Daji Lad Museum). We would have to round the circle once and turn to wherever we wanted to go,” said 65-year-old Kerry Rodricks, who runs a tiny old Goan music store outside Furtado’s.
Rodricks also recalls running up and down the stairs of the buildings with his friends. “The staircases were sturdy then and we would go all the way up to the terrace to fly kites,” he says. Now though, staircases in several buildings have been declared unsafe, while terraces are bolted close.
An old ice factory, which Rodricks and his friends frequented, has also now downed shutters. “It is now a godown for a book store,” he says.
Commercial establishments apart, the upper reaches of the Jer Mahal are also home to numerous clubs — clean and cheap accommodation for Goan men who had begun flocking to Mumbai for marine jobs at the turn of the 20th century. “They would come to work as cooks in the docks and on ships and needed a place to stay. These clubs were the answer. For a nominal fee, they could live there for the months that they had work here, before returning. Clubs were set up by groups from different villages,” said Rao.
Today, most clubs run empty, with not more five to ten occupants at any time. Rao says a lot of clubs have folded up and very few club signboards are now visible from balconies.
Ever since the B. B. Taraporewala family sold the building, disrepair has dominated most of the tenants’ conversations.
“The foundation is in good shape, but the staircases are weak. Also, there a lot of leakages in the upper stories. We haven’t heard anything about new plans for the building,” says Rai.
Manojkumar Sinha, an insurance and investment adviser with LIC who set up office next to Universal Book Store 25 years ago, says the management of most clubs has not shown interest in working to save the building.
Rodricks, however, says he would be sad to see the building being redeveloped. “We will not get those beautiful balconies back if the building is torn down,” he says.
srinath.rao@expressindia.com
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