The Victoria Terminus

Designed by Frederick William Stevens (1847-1900)

1888

(now Mumbai Chhatrapati Sivaji Terminus)

Bombay (Mumbai)

Source of image: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20450 USA: Digital ID 4a02613.

Commentary by Stuart Durant

The station was named the Victoria Terminus on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1887. In 1996 it was renamed the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus in honour of Chhatrapati Shivaji (1627-80), scourge of the Mughals and founder of the Mahratta empire, which was finally extinguished by the British in the early nineteenth century. Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and Shivaji is the state hero. The station — the original terminus of the Central Railways — was designed by Frederick William Stevens, born in Bath, who joined the Indian Public Works Department at the age of twenty. It is said to have been influenced by George Gilbert Scott’s Gothic Midland Hotel, although it incorporates fine Indian carving and decorative features. John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911), father of Rudyard Kipling, was Director of the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy School of Art in Bombay — the first modern art school in India. The institution promulgated the idea of amalgamating Indian and Western traditions, which was part of government policy. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus was put on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 — the first building of its kind.

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Last modified 6 April 2010