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Down Red Brick Road

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Lyle Michael

Posted: Jun 22, 2008 at 0156 hrs IST

The red brick building, popularly known as the Mumbai Samachar Building, was established in 1822 as the headquarter of Bombay Samachar, the first vernacular newspaper to be set up in the city. The building is located at the Horniman Circle and goes ideally by the name of Red Brick House. Set up by Fardoonjee Marzban, the Bombay Samachar was launched in Gujarati and went on to incorporate the English edition known as the Bombay Chronicle. The office of the editor of the Chronicle, Benjamin Guy Horniman, (after whom Horniman Circle was renamed post Independence) was accommodated in the Mumbai Samachar building.

The building, defined as an industrial prototype, houses the offices of the Samachar Press inclusive of the Bombay Samachar Pvt Ltd, Bombay Samachar Chronicle Co Pvt Ltd. and the Bombay Associate Newspapers Pvt Ltd. In keeping with the times, there is a signboard which dons the name ‘Mumbai Samachar’ in Marathi, alongside the original English version, ‘Bombay Samachar, Estd. 1822’, which immediately lends to a sense of fascination and interest at the very existence of the age-old structure. The architecture of the three-storeyed edifice is unique, due to which the building bears an uncanny resemblance to a typically old Indian bureau. The entrance to the lobby is not a very inviting one with the image of a warehouse coming first to mind. Though a structure that appears less than durable, it boasts of strong wooden beams that do not show any signs of decay and a traditional elevator that creaks its way to the first floor corridor, where all the activity takes place. Pocketed along this dingy corridor is the entire Samachar Press, inclusive of the editorial, advertising, printing and circulation departments and the press office.

Mumbai Samachar, surrounded by 19th century Gothic architecture in the form of heritage structures such as Elphinstone House, St Thomas Cathedral and others, continues to distinguish itself as an atypical establishment of the colonial period, enticing onlookers with the mysteriously rustic and unkept look that it wears today.

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