3-053-522 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Sassoon Institute, Bombay, 1873. 'Among the frequent money gifts of the late David Sassoon to his fellow-townsmen of Bombay was one of 60,000 rupees towards a new building for the Mechanics' Institute...the committee decided that the building should bear the name of its princely founder...The estimate for the building amounted to 145,000 rupees; but it was completed for 10,000 rupees less, and the Bombay Government again came forward and supplied the balance, with the proviso that the work should be carried out under the superintendence of the Government engineers. This was done in a most satisfactory manner by Colonel Fuller, R.E., Architectural Executive Engineer, P.W.D. The building...consists principally of two large halls, beautifully decorated, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor, the former of which is used as a museum and the latter as a reading-room. The other small rooms necessary in such an institution branch off from these halls, and the reading-room opens out into a fine arcaded verandah 62 ft. by 13 ft., which is a comfortable place for reading during the close evenings of the hot season'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.