Earlier this year, senior residents of the Khotachiwadi area in Mumbai led protests against the demolition of a 90-year-old bungalow known as the Fernandez House. The young, new owners of the house planned to redevelop the property. But they were met with resistance. Protesters collected 114 signatures from community residents calling for the Mumbai Municipal Corporation to issue a stop-work order.
Bungalows in Khotachiwadi, Mumbai
Bungalows are a cornerstone of Indian residential architecture. They have served as multi-generational family homes for the greater part of the late 20th and 21st centuries. These houses, typically only a story or two tall, are recognised for their symmetric layout and sprawling verandas. Today, they stand out among the towering glass and concrete towers that have transformed Greater Mumbai.
The protesting residents of Khotachiwadi were successful — the outer visual of the bungalow must now stay the same throughout all construction efforts. But their protests also point toward a generation divide that characterises discourse regarding bungalow preservation and urban development.
Mind the (generational) gap!
Mumbai’s property owners are struggling to keep bungalows from falling into disrepair. The upkeep of these old houses is not easy. Mumbai’s torrential rains and high humidity require maintenance measures too expensive for landlords to finance.
The older residents of Khotachiwadi have continued to stay in their ancestral homes. But their children often move to cost-effective residences in the city. Older owners of bungalows who turned to their children to help support bungalow-upkeep have often been met with requests to sell the property.
Property prices in Mumbai are expected to increase by 7.5% this year – the biggest jump in over 5 years. Bungalows are also typically located in central and high-demand areas in Mumbai, making their property value even greater. That helps explain the strong interest in selling these properties.
But the sentimentality for bungalows is not just about family. Mumbai’s bungalows point to key elements in India’s social history – particularly those regarding community relationships, and the creation of modern identities by new urbanites.
Architectural legacies of Mumbai’s bungalows
The word “bungalow” comes from the word bangla which refers to something from the Indian region Bengal. Pre-colonial Bangla bungalows were huts with mud walls and thatched roofs.
At the core of pre-colonial bungalows is multi-generational communal living. Generations of families lived together and drifted in and out of their neighbour’s homes, with everybody responsible for maintaining nearby property.
That design began to change with the arrival of the British Raj in India. The 19th century colonial bungalow possessed high compound walls, secluding the house from unplanned visitors. A bungalow was no longer a community space, but a model for residential privatisation.
Visual rendering of a colonial bungalow in Calcutta (Kolkata), India
The independence movements of the 1930s and 40s led to an uptick in urban migration to Mumbai and the creation of professional classes. They also heralded a flourishing age of modernism, creativity and art.
A new style of bungalow became popular with Mumbai’s growing urban middle class. Mumbai became the unlikely home to one of the world’s largest collections of French Arts Décoratifs (or Art Deco) structures – second only to Miami, Florida.
The Art Deco movement popularised clean “streamlined” shapes with decadent geometric ornamentation in expensive terracotta, chrome, stucco, or decorative glass. Using these materials was a unique display of wealth and luxury from Mumbai’s new professional class.
‘Vilhervin’ and ‘Peace-Haven’ Houses. Bungalows in the Art Deco-style in Mumbai, India
Art Deco bungalows represented the emergence of the new urban elite’s conception of Mumbai – a modern housing solution for a modern professional class.
Preserving heritage & home
There are a number of organisations spreading awareness about the rich history of Mumbai’s bungalows.
The Art Deco Mumbai Trust (ADMT) highlights Mumbai’s Art Deco structures through education programs and city tours to help residents and tourists appreciate the city’s architectural heritage. Other organisations such as the Asia Society, Mumbai focus on preservation and restoration of sites that hosted key moments of the city’s history.
Mumbai’s bungalows house stories of India’s colonial past, independence struggle, and the search for a modern identity. They are a reminder of the culture of hospitable collectivism that continues to shape community relationships, and are a visual love letter to the country’s pre-colonial past. Due to unaffordable upkeep and changing living styles, it is increasingly important to recognise the histories of these disappearing landmarks and to support the organisations that are trying to preserve Mumbai’s rich cultural history.