SunCorp

 Trampled under the phalanx of towers - ostensibly denoting Mumbai’s march towards its globalised destiny - traditional enclaves are fast disappearing from the city’s landscape. With them have gone the lovely old bungalows and buildings with heritage value.
    It’s a battle between past and future as developers rush to corner every piece of valuable low-rise and convert it into lucrative skyscrapers. Owners of such magnificent properties are forced to sell because they are unable to repair those termite-ridden wooden beams or restore the exquisitely-carved stone facade.

    A major factor in their helplessness is the antiquated Rent Act that does not allow them to cover even a part of the cost of upkeep. Besides, the local authorities have no proper scheme to offer economic incentives or tax breaks to motivate landlords to protect their buildings.
    Nowhere is this rapid disappearance of the city’s heritage more evident than on a stretch of Napean Sea Road in south Mumbai where the last of the sprawling colonial-style bungalows and mansions have been razed to the ground over the past three years. The nowempty plots are hidden behind walls of corrugated tin behind which huge excavators dig deep to lay the foundations for swanky residential towers.
    “This area has always maintained a certain skyline since the 1940s. The low-type characteristic has now been completely destroyed,’’ veteran architect and Napean Sea Road resident Bomi Mistry said. Not many of the ancient buildings are on the Mumbai Heritage and Conservation Committee’s list of protected structures. Just a handful of them are listed as grade III; so they can be pulled down because they are categorised as cessed structures.
    On Darabshaw Lane, off Napean Sea Road, a row of early-20th-century buildings is entirely slated for redevelopment. Among them is the heritage grade-III Avasia House, a ground-plus-three-storey building, whose tenants have been paid a few crores each to move out permanently by the developer, Orbit Corporation.
    “We plan to retain the old facade and make a brand new building with Malad stone,’’ Orbit managing director Pujit Aggarwal said. An old bungalow, Ratilal Mansion, located close to the sea on the same lane has made way for an upcoming 13-storey tower. “The bungalow had faced the brunt of the sea and was in a bad shape,’’ Aggarwal said. He is also developing another 18-storey tower after pulling down three old buildings at the corner of Darabshaw Lane.
    Two mansions more than 100 years old, Prosperous House and Napean Terrace, were bought by developers and razed recently. Both estates were not in especially good condition, but neither were they in a state of decay. Prosperous House, which was bought over by Govani Builders a few years ago, was once owned by the late Ardeshir Dubash who made his fortune in stevedoring during World War I. A high-rise is coming up in its place. The adjoining Napean Terrace property was purchased by south Mumbai developer Haresh Mehta (Rohan Group). He is now setting up a skyscraper.
    Old-timers say the erstwhile Napean Terrace carried a stigma because it was rented by the only Napean Sea Road resident to have died in the 1896 plague. It was a three-storeyed house built in the old French colonial style. On the other side of the road was Krishna Kunj, a ground-plus-two building, now being redeveloped by Lodha Builders into an exclusive condo. “People want to cash in on the high property rates in the area. It’s a win-win situation for tenants, landlords and builders. But there is no adherence to continuity of the skyline nor any thought given to the inadequate infrastructure,’’ an old-timer, reluctant to be named, said.
    Haresh Shah, landlord of Motilal Mansion, a building constructed some time in the 1920s, said it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain such properties. “Our place needs strengthening; there are white ants and a lot of seepage because of the old stones. Over the years, the building has become dark and gloomy because other towering structures have come up close by,’’ he added.
    “Tenants pay just Rs 270 a month for flats around 1,000 square feet in size and yet they expect the landlord even to change a broken window pane,’’ he rued. The other big estates on this stretch of Napean Sea Road are the Raj-style Hill-side Villa, property owned by former attorney-general Soli Sorabjee’s family, the Morarka bungalow (already demolished and being replaced by a Satellite Group tower ), the sprawling Gamadia Estate, and Laxmi Villa.
    As bulldozers and cranes move in rapidly, a part of Mumbai’s architectural history is all set to be wiped out. Forever.