Metropolitan Building (Kolkata)

For other uses, see Metropolitan Building.

Metropolitan Building (Bengali: মেট্রোপলিটান বিল্ডিং) is the number 46.26 building on Jawaharlal Nehru Road in Kolkata near Esplanade. Formerly known as the Whiteway Laidlaw department store, it was a famous department store in Calcutta during the British Rule in India. This neo-baroque emporium—with domes, a clock tower, and arched recessed windows—exemplifies fashionable shopping during the British Raj in British India. The building was built in 1905. Post Independence Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. assumed ownership, so people know it more commonly as Metropolitan Building.

It is located near the Shaheed Minar and the Grand Hotel.

Features

It is a large building recognisable by its corner tower with the dome raised high on a pavilion. Rustication in the ground floor and a semicircular arched arcade in the first floor. The facade is punctuated by a series of projected and pedimented bays with plain columns and Corinthian capitals. Repaired recently, the Metropolitan Building still stands as an important landmark overlooking the crowded Chowringhee.

The building's clock tower seen at the end of the photo taken in Esplanade, Calcutta in 1945

Destruction

In 1991, a fire ravaged the top floor of the majestic Metropolitan Building and hundreds of original negatives of Bourne and Shepherd, reputed to be the world’s oldest operational photography studio, established in the late 19th century, perished in the fire.

Renovation

The building was restored by the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). But it still houses a commercial complex. The building was freshly repainted with white and golden paint and its exterior structure was also renovated while making extensive changes within.

Gallery

• Metropolitan Building Gallery
• 

  Metropolitan Building in Esplanade, Kolkata after the recent renovation.

• 

  The building under renovation.

See also

• Esplanade, Kolkata
• Jawaharlal Nehru Road
• Chowringhee