Who is not familiar with the monumental line of buildings, most of which still stand, on the west side of Strand Road? Well, despite their mass, they can actually be missed, or come off as one big brick blur, what with all the activity that regularly happens along here. For these are the heroically-scaled housings for goods of all kinds that came and went under the auspices of the Calcutta Port Trust. Temporary lodging, as it were, for items of commercial traffic, both incoming and outgoing.

The grandest of them all – the late Strand Warehouse

Metcalfe Hall is modest in comparison

Cranes built for the ages

At least that was their chief purpose in their prime, back when this stretch of the Strand was in the thick of Calcutta’s hubbub of trade, in its most hands-on guise, before development of the docks at Kidderpore and Garden Reach  downstream really got going in the 1890s.

Despite the ‘Warehouse’ label on the buildings themselves, I like the term ‘godown’ better, as it conveys the drama of all that must’ve transpired in these spaces through the years. I can’t imagine that ‘static’ – usually associated with warehousing – as an applicable description.

The Calcutta Port Trust had a shaky start, but in its second incarnation, the enterprise became a major force. The series of jetties, sheds and godowns along here, and later, the huge Dock complexes, were all in their keeping. Able administrators such as Nalin Bihari Sircar, Fred Dumayne and others boosted the fortunes of the Port, which flourished even after the capital’s exodus to Delhi in 1911-12. (Interesting trivia: in 1906 the Port Trust acquired its first motor car, though the make is unknown.)

The Coolie still rules here

The grand lineup in 1929

Competition was brisk, as Bombay had already claimed the #1 port spot, while a rival across the Bengali bay, Chittagong, threatened.  The Port Trust went into overdrive, and not a moment too soon, aiming their prime focus at Kidderpore, yet erecting these fine spacious godowns as a commitment to maintaining this time-honoured strip, so close to the Customs House and the Port Commissioner’s headquarters. 

Country boats from the Ganga system conveyed the jute, tea, gunnies, linseed and shellac as they’d always done. Once these tremendous piles of red brick lined the Hooghly bund though, loading off and on was done with cranes (first steam-powered, then hydraulic), but remained coolie-dependent. How many chests of opium from the Patna factories were off-loaded here, then trundled to the Opium Godown behind the GPO, then out again – mostly to China – few could say.

In my ‘Calcutta’s Edifice’ book, I included an appendix that offers suggestions for the repurposing of these heritage landmarks, should the will and momentum occur. In the great tradition of Indian riverfronts, whether ghat or bund or park, I imagined some sort of campus, uniting all the restored buildings into a coherent, attractive, and intrinsically Calcuttan highlight, whatever mixed use it would provide.

The grand lineup in 1929

When full of goods, still accessible

This notion was presented when the undoubted star of the lineup, the Strand Warehouse, still took pride of place at the northern end, opposite Armenian Ghat. Its followers, the Canning, Clive and Fairlie godowns put on a good show, but the Strand, at 48,500 sq. ft. was by far the largest, and the most lavishly treated in terms of stateliness and decor. It almost rated as another Writers’ Building in size and effect. Surely it had to be some high-level office block, instead of rough-edged space for general imports and tea bales!

Back when I knew it, the Strand was a partial ruin but partially operative. Some time in the 1970s a fire gutted the top story, but the majority of the bulk remained intact. Indeed, there was an additional nobility to the surviving facade. As ancient aqueducts remain for us to wonder at in Rome, certainly the arches that marched along its profile would, as well. Alas, the massive, lumbering masterpiece was razed, and I’m too heartbroken to even know the details.

Like an ancient grotto

Canning endures

When trams rolled on the Strand

Not surprisingly, my own intrigue with these behemoths was kindled the instant I first beheld them, as their epic theatricality is entirely in keeping with the city at large. That’s the Calcutta Style for you: grand gestures, done up in truly impressive fashion.

Stay curious, have fun, and be sure to come when Calcutta calls!