Scope and Contents 240 x 285 mm. View from the street showing the five storey block next to Esplanade Mansions at 3 Esplanade Row, occupied by the firm on its completion in 1916. This famous firm of publishers, printers and booksellers was founded by William Thacker, an East India Company surgeon, in 1819, with his wife running the St Andrew's Library. His nephew William Spink joined the firm in 1839 and became a partner in 1851, in which year the firm assumed the name of Thacker, Spink &Co. Their most...

Scope and Contents

286x220mm. View from the street showing the two buildings occupied by the firm of William Leslie & Co., hardware and motor merchants, at 3 and 5 Chowringhee Road. The business was founded in 1890 by William Leslie, who had worked in the hardware field in Calcutta since the 1870s, (Massey p.99).

Scope and Contents 285x253mm. View of Park House, situated on the left hand side of the road near the junction between Chowringhee Road and Park Street. A substantial three storey building with arcaded verandahs whose triple arches are supported on square columns with Ionic capitals, a small pediment with scroll patterns in the tympanum and along the friezes, and a dome at one corner. It housed the premises of William Heath Ltd., L.H. Lil Ram, Jewellers, and the Crown Hairdressing Saloon. The tops of the iron...

Scope and Contents 160x103mm. View from New Strand Road of Prinsep's Ghat, a colonnade of Ionic columns and pilasters built around the landing stage on the Hooghly just below the S.W. corner of Fort William. This was erected in the 1840s by the citizens of Calcutta to honour the memory of James Prinsep (1799-1840), the polymathic assay master of the Calcutta Mint who was in addition architect, artist, engineer and scholar. The ghat was originally at the water's edge, but later land reclamation moved it away...

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303x173mm. View of the race stand, with crowds attending the meeting, (Massey p.3).

Scope and Contents 283x225mm. View from the S.W. looking towards the newly completed Royal Exchange in Clive Street, dated 1917 on the frieze. The terrace-roofed, four storey building has a colonnade of coupled Corinthian columns running through two floors along the Clive Street facade, with Corinthian pilasters on the end pavilions. The Exchange was designed by T.S. Gregson and erected by the firm of J.C. Banerjee (see Playne pp.647-651). The Calcutta Chamber of Commerce (superseded by theBengal Chamber...

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152x97mm. View looking E. along Esplanade Row from Scott Thomson's Corner, with the Medical Hall in the foreground and Madeley & Co., Madame Nielly, and Payne & Co. beyond. See Y3022AA/59-61, (Massey p. 2).

Scope and Contents 27Sx209mm. View from the junction of Government Place East and Esplanade Row, with the newly built Esplanade Mansions standing on the site of Scott Thomson's Corner. This flamboyant residential block was built by the firm of Martin & Co. in c.1911-12: the 1912 edition of Thacker's 'Bengal Directory' records the area as demolished and the following year lists the presence of the block. These directories were generally prepared for the press towards the end of the year preceding...

Scope and Contents 139x195mm. Exterior view of St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, built in Gothic style and situated at the southern end of the Maidan. The Bishopric of Calcutta was created as early as 1813, but for many years St John's was used as the cathedral church. The idea of building a cathedral church was suggested in 1819, but the original proposal fell through and it was not until 1833 that Bishop Wilson revived the scheme. The foundation stone was laid in October 1839 and the building consecrated in...

Scope and Contents 189x196mm. View from the Chowringhee Road showing a somewhat dilapidated three storey town house, built in severely box-like form apart from a projecting entrance, and characteristic of many of the town residences of Calcutta in the early 19th century. The supporting pillars in this case are of the Tuscan order. Massey gives no details of the supposed hauntings, merely stating (p.102) that it was believed to be so and that later the house was avoided and fell into a condition of some...

Scope and Contents 289x209mm. View from Esplanade Row looking westwards towards the S. facade of the High Court. Designed by Walter Grenville in imitation of the Cloth Hall at Ypres and completed in 1872, the S. facade has a colonnade of pointed arches running along the lower storey, with the capitals of the columns sculpted in Caen stone. A massive 180 foot tower rises from the centre of the facade above the principal entrance. In the left foreground in front of the building stands Sir Edgar Boehm's statue of...

Scope and Contents 276x220mm. View looking N. to S. along the Marble Hall, which forms a junction with the Throne Room: the canopy and throne can be seen through the archway at the end of the room. The print is incorrectly captioned both in the album and in Massey. The two rooms are of similar proportions and design (for a photograph of the Ball Room, see Curzon i, p.110), although the Ball Room has a higher ceiling. The Marble Hall was the principal state room in the building and consists of a central nave...

Scope and Contents 203x163mm. View from Chowringhee Road showing the W. frontage of the Museum and the northern facade running along Sudder Street. The Indian Museum, designed by the Government Architect Walter B. Granville and opened to the public in 1875, stands at the corner of these two streets on the other of Sudder Street to the 'Haunted House'. The building is of two storeys plus an attic storey with pavilions with Corinthian columns on the upper floor projecting out into Chowinghee Road. Banded...

Scope and Contents Contains plates of the Royal train. According to the printed introduction, the train was built in the carriage works of the East Indian Railway, Lillooah, near Calcutta to designs prepared by Mr. H. Kelway-Bamber, the Carriage and Wagon Superintendent approved by His Excellency the Viceroy and Governor-General, then Lord Curzon of Kedleston, who took a special interest in the construction of the train. Its total length was approximately 700 feet and it consisted of 10 carriages. The...

Scope and Contents 277x218mm. A view looking along the Throne Room from E. to W., with the throne and canopy at the left against the S. wall. This low, gilded seat was commonly reported to be the throne of Tippu Sultan, but Curzon argues persuasively (Curzon i, pp.103-104) that it was more likely to have been a seat for elephant riding. A line of chandeliers runs along the centre of the apartment and the rest of the room is furnished with low armchairs and tables. Before the mid-19th century durbars and levees...

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288x214mm. A view looking E. along Corporation Street (formerly Jaun Bazar Street) from its junction with Chowringhee Road. In the left foreground are part of the premises of Laidlaw & Co., drapers. Further down Corporation Street the premises of the Hindusthan Co-operative Insurance Society can be seen, (Massey p. 102).

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249x188mm. View looking N. along the Hooghly from Fort William, with lines of sailing vessels at their moorings along the E. bank of the river. The High Court buildings can be seen on the skyline in the right background. View taken from the Fort Church of St Peter, (Massey p.29).

Scope and Contents 225x264mm. Showing the frontage of the premises of W. Leslie & Co, a three storeyed building dated 1898 on the facade. The exact location of this shop has not been identified, and Macmillan, Playne and Thacker give conflicting information. Macmillan in 1928 states that Leslie & Co. moved into new premises at 19 Chowringhee Road in 1912: his description of these buildings, however, does not match either this photograph or Y3022BB/12. Playne gives the firm's location as nos. 3 and 5,...

Scope and Contents 287x225mm. View of the West End Watch Company premises in the N.E. corner of Dalhousie Square. A four storey building with a central pediment supported on Corinthian pilasters, the shop has a cast-iron verandah running along the Dalhousie Square frontage, in front of which horse-drawn cabs and motor cars are parked. No details of the firm's history have been traced. To the right are the offices of the Yost Typewriter Company and, in the neighbouring building, the Eastern Bengal Railway...

Scope and Contents 290x233mm. View from the E. end of the N. side of Dalhousie Square looking along the length of the S. facade of the Bengal Secretariat. Originally constructed in 1780 to accommodate junior East India Company servants on their arrival in India, the building was probably designed by Thomas Lyon and presented a long, plain stuccoed facade to Tank Square. In later years the apartments were used by private individuals and commercials firms, and in 1878-82 the buildings were entirely reconstructed...