Around Town: Inside 87-year-old Karfule, Mumbai’s last Art Deco petrol pump in Ballard Estate

A family story

A stone’s throw from the Enforcement Directorate office, the station has been run by three generations of the Sequeira family. Its founder, Gabriel Sequeira, a Goan who migrated to Bombay in the 1920s, began modestly with a kerbside petrol kiosk where he would manually fill cars with fuel. By 1932, he had partnered with Burmah Shell to open his first pump in Ballard Estate.

A few years later, when American company Caltex entered India, he joined hands with them. “But he wasn’t allowed to operate two stations for competing companies,” recalled his son Kevin Sequeira, now 75. “So he sold his stake in the first and launched Karfule with Caltex on October 3, 1938, at 3 Sprott Road.”

Daniel (left) and his father Kevin at the ‘Karfule’ petrol pump in Mumbai. (Express Photo by Amit Chakravarty)

The building, constructed in concrete and faced with stone to match the surrounding Edwardian neoclassical structures, was designed by Gajanan B. Mhatre (GB Mhatre) — one of Mumbai’s most prolific Art Deco architects, known for designing Empress Court at Oval Maidan and residential landmarks such as Marble Arch, Shangri-La and Normandie at Cumballa Hill.

The art and the artist

The central kiosk, with its umbrella-like canopy and tower, is the heart of Karfule’s design. The large octagonal canopy is supported by inverted beams in reinforced concrete, while the tower above it — distinctly Deco — features an aerodynamic spine with a circular disc that once functioned as a clock.

“The building had always been there, but we didn’t know about its architectural significance until 2015,” said Daniel Sequeira, Gabriel’s grandson. “Someone mentioned that it had Art Deco elements and that’s when I started researching and recognised them.” Inside the kiosk, the original star-shaped terrazzo flooring still gleams, showing little sign of wear.

The kiosk, octagonal in plan, allows a 360-degree view of the station through its seven windows. Its lower walls are clad in red marble and black kadappa stone, and the exterior bears Deco lettering and grilles modelled after car headlamps and radiator grilles from the era. Horizontal red bands run along the service bays, completing the design’s streamlined aesthetic.

From fuel to heritage

When Karfule turned 80 in 2018, Daniel marked the milestone with an exhibition on the premises, displaying memorabilia collected over eight decades. Among the treasures were original invoices and a hand-rendered drawing of the station’s elevation, showing the central kiosk ringed by driveways and garages.

Also preserved were a payment certificate showing a construction cost of Rs 34,000, a Rs 5,000 receipt from Simplex Concrete Works & Construction Co., and photographs from the inaugural day, when His Grace Dr Thomas D Roberts, Bishop of Bombay, blessed the station. Guests were served small cakes, cheese straws, and sausage rolls, a menu Daniel recreated for the 80th anniversary high tea.

“The exhibition was so well received that it became a permanent fixture,” he said, adding, “Architecture students and heritage enthusiasts often visit, and we guide them through the display.” Daniel also conducts walks around Ballard Estate, narrating stories of its Art Deco past and leading visitors to Karfule, a living piece of that history.

Preserving a legacy

Over decades, the Sequeiras have worked to maintain Karfule’s architectural character with minimal alterations. The edges of the canopy, once painted red, now wear HPCL’s blue branding, but the original Deco lettering survives, as does one metal grille from the 1930s. “The others were stolen during the ’70s and ’80s, when Ballard Estate saw frequent petty thefts,” shared Kevin.

In 1995, when HP insisted that the facade be painted white, Kevin resisted, and the company stopped their petrol supply and they had to cave in. When they repainted the structure for the 80th anniversary, they retained the white but accenting it with red and dark blue, resulting in a facade that nods to classic Deco palettes.

Inside, much of the original equipment still works, including two Manley hydraulic lifts, a Devilbiss compressor, and an analog air gauge, all from the 1930s, lovingly maintained by the father-son duo.