The Art Deco walk along the Oval

The Oval Maidan is a rectangle of open turf a short walk from Churchgate station, and it happens to be flanked by two architectural styles at once, facing each other across the same stretch of grass. On the east side stands a row of Victorian Gothic public buildings built in grey basalt: the Bombay High Court, the University of Mumbai with its Rajabai Clock Tower, and the old Public Works Department Secretariat. On the west, facing Marine Drive and the sea beyond it, stand the streamlined white and cream apartment blocks and cinemas built roughly half a century later, in the 1930s. Walking the perimeter of the maidan puts both eras in view within about half an hour, without needing to go indoors anywhere.

In 2018, UNESCO inscribed this pairing as the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai, describing the combined listing as the second-largest collection of Art Deco buildings anywhere in the world, after Miami. The Gothic row dates mostly from the 1870s to the 1890s, built in the decades of civic construction that followed improvements to the old Fort area, drawing on English and French Gothic Revival models translated into local stone and craftsmanship. The Art Deco side arrived later, from the 1930s onward, as private developers, cinema owners and residents' associations adopted the curved balconies, sun-shades, porthole windows and geometric ornament that were then fashionable across Europe, the United States and parts of colonial Asia.

The Gothic row rewards a slow look from the pavement rather than a quick glance in passing. The Rajabai Clock Tower rises above the University library and was modelled loosely on English bell-tower precedents, its stonework carrying carved figures representing different regions and communities of the subcontinent. The High Court, completed in 1878, has a broadly symmetrical facade flanked by a pair of octagonal corner towers, and its scale alone marks it out from the buildings around it. None of these institutions is generally open to casual sightseers without prior arrangement, so this stretch of the walk works best as an exterior study, taken slowly rather than rushed through on the way to somewhere else nearby.

On the Marine Drive side, look for curved corner balconies, vertical fluting, porthole windows and lettering set in period typefaces above cinema and building entrances; Eros Cinema, close to the Churchgate end of the row, is one of the more recognisable examples still standing largely as built. Between the two facing rows, the maidan itself is rarely empty during daylight hours: several cricket clubs use the ground through the week, and matches or net practice are visible from the boundary railings at almost any hour outside the heaviest monsoon downpours, giving the whole walk a constant backdrop of activity.

Questions travellers ask

What exactly did UNESCO list here?

In 2018 UNESCO inscribed the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai as a single World Heritage Site. The listing covers the ring of Gothic public buildings around the Oval and Cross Maidans together with the Art Deco buildings along Marine Drive and the streets immediately behind it, treated as one continuous architectural setting built up over roughly sixty years rather than as a single standalone building or monument.

Can you go inside the High Court or the University buildings?

Not casually. The High Court remains a working court in daily use, and the University buildings are part of an active academic campus, so entry purely for sightseeing is generally restricted or requires prior permission from the institutions themselves. The walk is designed as an exterior one in any case: the facades, towers, stonework and carved detail are all clearly visible and photographable from the maidan and the surrounding public streets.

How long does the walk take?

Walking the full loop around the maidan at an unhurried pace, stopping to look properly at both rows of buildings and the details on each, takes about an hour to ninety minutes for most visitors. It can be shortened to around 45 minutes by sticking to one side only, or comfortably extended by continuing south afterwards into the museums and galleries of Kala Ghoda.

Is it free?

Yes. The maidan itself is a public open space with no entry fee or gate, and all of the architecture described here, on both the Gothic and Art Deco sides, is viewable from public streets and the edge of the maidan without charge of any kind. The only cost genuinely involved in the whole visit is transport to and from Churchgate station beforehand, since there is nothing to buy a ticket for once you arrive.

When is the best time to go?

Early morning, around 7am, or the hour before sunset, gives the best light for photographs and the coolest temperatures for a walk of this length in Mumbai's climate. Weekday mornings also tend to have livelier cricket practice on the maidan than weekends, when the ground is sometimes given over to other organised events instead, changing what you will actually see when you get there.