It's a still, sultry Sunday afternoon in Ballard Estate. Shafts of sunlight fall upon elegant colonial buildings shrouded by tall trees. Not a breath of air stirs the fallen leaves on the footpaths. Not a soul on the roads save a mangy dog with melting eyes.
It could all easily be a scene plucked from the early 1900s, the time when George Wittet finally finished designing the area. Even then, Ballard Estate looked much the same; a charming business district with buildings modelled on Italian Renaissance styles. The buildings were tall and grand, the offices within airy and spacious. The only problem was that nobody believed they would sell - in 1920s, the area was considered out of the way. Bombay was overdeveloped anyway, or so they believed.
But their scepticism soon melted away as businesses, attracted by the charming yet utilitarian design, were drawn to the area. Once the passenger docks moved to Ballard Estate, the Port Trust was inundated with requests for leases - a symbol of the city's growing mercantile power.
Even today, though the roads are clogged with traffic, Ballard Estate still stands as a pocket of beauty in a chaotic world. There is much to marvel at here. The Grand Hotel, a stately corner building also designed by Wittet; the war memorial that commemorates the fallen Port Trust officers who were felled in the 1914-1919 War; the twin sculpted ships on the façade of the Port Trust Building, the statuary on the Mackinon Mckenzie building. Keep an eye out also for the wide footpaths, the well-planned roads, cast iron balconies and distinctive stucco mouldings as you make your way to Britannia for raspberry soda and berry pulao, after your meandering walk through the district.
