Byculla Church, Bombay, From Western Entrance (12676179324)

Christ Church in

Byculla Byculla (ISO: Bhāykhaḷā; pronunciation: ʱaːjkʰəɭaː is an area of South Mumbai. Location Byculla is neighboured by Nagpada and Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi on the west; Agripada, Jacob Circle on the north-west: Chinchpokli to the nor ...

, Mumbai, is affiliated to the

Church of North India The Church of North India (CNI) is the dominant united Protestant church in northern India. It was established on 29 November 1970 by bringing together the Protestant churches working in northern India. It is a province of the worldwide Anglica ...

and was built in 1833 as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church. The church's establishment has been the subject of a myth that it was built to suit the convenience of the

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

Mountstuart Elphinstone Mountstuart Elphinstone (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the open ...

, who reportedly had to earlier travel from his central Bombay residence in

Parel Parel (ISO: Paraḷ, pronunciation: əɾəɭ is a neighbourhood of Mumbai. Parel used to have a number of textile mills, but these have been replaced by commercial office space development. History Originally, Parel was a separate island, ...

to St Thomas Cathedral in South Bombay. Elphinstone had already left India in 1829. The church was, in fact, built during the governorship of

John FitzGibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare John FitzGibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare KP GCH PC (10 July 1792 – 18 August 1851) was an Anglo Irish aristocrat and politician. Early life FitzGibbon was born on 10 July 1792. He was the eldest son of John FitzGibbon, 1st Earl of Clare and ...

, who laid the foundation stone in July, 1832. Along with the Church of St Andrew and St Columba in South Bombay, Christ Church was one of the last 19th-century churches in the city to be built in the Neoclassical style, as

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

emerged as the preferred style thereafter. It was built by a Portuguese architect called Augusto. The first service was held on 10 August 1833, but the church was only consecrated in December 1835 by Revd. Daniel Wilson, the then Bishop of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. In 2017, the church's restoration project led by conservation architect

Vikas Dilawari Vikas Dilawari (born 1964) is an Indian conservation architect who has restored at-risk monuments and heritage buildings in Mumbai, including the Victoria Terminus, Rajabai Clock Tower, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Wellington Fountain and Christ ...

won the Award of Merit under the

UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards (since 2000) are given with as the strategic purpose of UNESCO with in the region Asia Pacific. The objective is to motivate the protection of Cultural Heritage sites, which are initiated by any individual organi ...

History

The church's establishment is closely associated with the affairs of

Christ Church School Christ Church School is a private coeducational prep school located in Mumbai, India. It is a Christian school, founded in 1815, under the auspices of the Bombay Education Society. It has close to 3800 students, all of whom are night scholars. ...

, which was founded as a charity institution by the Bombay Education Society at St Thomas Cathedral, Fort in 1816–17. Following a government order, the school moved to the Byculla site in 1825. In 1831, for the benefit of the children, a plan for a church was announced. The education society pledged 10,000, and the government gave an equal grant on the condition that the children be provided "sittings free of charge". In July 1832,

, the then Governor of Bombay, laid the foundation stone and the building was ready by August 1833. Though the first service was held on 10 August 1833, the church was only consecrated two years later in December 1935 by Revd. Daniel Wilson, the then Bishop of

. The church is home to one of the city's few

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

s, but like most of them it is non-functional. It was made by the London-based

Gray and Davison Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

for £300 some time in the 19th-century.

Design and architecture

The church is built after the style of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London. Christ Church was one of the last 19th-century churches to be built in the Neoclassical style, as thereafter the architects found themselves drawn towards the

style, as can be seen in Emmanuel Church (1869) and All Saints' Church, Malabar Hill (1881). The church has a

Greek Doric The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of colu ...

portico built with columns imported from England. Originally, the columns were to be used in the Mumbai Town Hall, which was being built at the same time, but on arrival they were judged to be oversized for that project.

Stained glass

In August 1868, a brief report appeared in ''The Builder'', a 19th-century architectural journal, which read: "Mr. J Scott, stained glass manufacturers, Carlisle, has just completed a stained glass window for the church of Byculla in India. Its dimensions are 14 ft by 9 ft, and it is divided into six lights, the whole of which are filled with grissaile work. Near the top of the centre light is a wreath surrounding the arms of Spencer Compton, in whose memory the window is to be placed in the church." The Spencer Compton mentioned was not the

Marquess of Northampton A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

, but a

prothonotary The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

at the Bombay High Court. Mr. J Scott refers to John Scott Jr. of the

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

firm John Scott & Son, which was founded by the father and son named John Scott (the father died in 1865).

Restoration project

The church was sensitively restored between 2013 and 2016 for the first time in its history, as earlier efforts were ill-executed or inappropriate. The historic teak wood trusses were strengthened, the

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

inside the church were

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

in gold,

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

and the architectural details of the facade, which had been compromised earlier, were restored. The conservation project received the Award of Merit under the

in 2017.

Bibliography

References

{{reflist Churches in Mumbai Church of North India church buildings 1833 establishments in India Religious buildings and structures completed in 1833 Greek Revival church buildings UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards winners Neoclassical church buildings in India