Thread by @artdecomumbai

Anandashram, Matunga

The Dadar-Matunga Street Scheme, which was notified in 1899, contemplated laying out plots systematically on the land to the north of the Island City, which were primarily rice fields. (1/9)

The space that was laid out in grids, with a complete network of roads and easy accessibility to the tramway and railway stations, was demarcated as "residential". (2/9)

The scheme, which originally ensured private plots for bungalows and villas with their own gardens, had to be reworked as an increasing number of people migrated to the suburbs, creating a housing scarcity. (3/9)

The need for mass-housing and an increasing inclination towards using reinforced cement concrete (RCC) in the late 1930s led to a rise of low multistorey apartment buildings in the area. (4/9)

As one walks along the lanes of Matunga, one tends to come across several G+2 or G+3 apartment buildings that happily exist on their own spacious plots.

Anandashram is one such Art Deco apartment building, which occupies a corner plot on one of these iron-grid roads. (5/9)

The pristinely painted building in blue with red bands exhibit finesse in its construction and maintenance. Stripped off typical Deco ornamentation and stucco work, it comes through prominently in the streamlined, curvy eyebrows, and the balconies with their red eaves. (6/9)

The compound wall may not be a quintessentially Deco design. But the metal gateway with its frozen fountain, and the building beyond, are fine examples of suburban Art Deco. (7/9)

Red bands, speedlines and a stepped profile define the entrance of the Anandashram.

In sets of three as they are often found, speedlines are seen cleverly framing the Deco style lettering on the nameplate. (8/9)

#ArtDecoMumbai #ArtDeco #Mumbai #Streamlining #Banding #Matunga #DadarMatungaStreetScheme #Eyebrows #Balcony #FrozenFountain #Nameplate #DecoLettering #Speedlines #Colour #SuburbanArtDeco (9/9)