Friday, 15 July 2011

Reflections

Its monsoons in India and was raining all day so this made it a perfect day to catch reflections. . . luckily for me it didn't rain that evening or none of these pictures would have been possible . . . As you can see this place is always crowded come any season and people only need a reason to step out . . .  

 
    


The Gateway of India is the biggest monument landmark in Mumbai . . . The foundation stone was laid on 31st March 1911 and the construction was finished in 1924 and was opened on 4th December 1924 . . . The gateway is a basalt arch 26 meters (85 ft) high with a central dome of 15 meters (49 ft) in diameter . . . The cost of construction at that time was 21 Lakhs . . . 

 
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was commissioned in Indo - Saracenic style by Tata and first opened its door to guests on 16th December 1903 . . .
  

During World War I, the hotel was converted into a 600 bed hospital . . .

 
The original Indian architects were Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya, Ashok kumar and D. N. Mirza, and the project was completed by an English engineer, W. A. Chambers . . .

 
The builder was Khansabeb Sorabji Ruttonji Contractor who also designed and built its famous central floating staircase . . .
 


The cost of construction was £250,000 (£127 million today) . . .


   
The hotel was the first in India to install and operate a steam elevators . . . The hotel imported American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths and English butlers, for the first time in India . . .

 

The dome of the hotel is made from steel as used in the Eiffel Tower . . .  Jamsedji Tata imported the same steel during that time . . .