The New India Assurance Building is an Art Deco office building made of reinforced concrete and designed by Master, Sathe and Bhuta, with artistic designer N. G. Pansare. It was constructed in 1937 in Mumbai, India for New India Assurance Co. Ltd., an Indian insurance company which was founded by Sir Dorabji Tata in 1919. Its architectural style blends Art Deco with Indian motifs, often termed Indo-Deco featuring reliefs of agrarian and industrial life. As both a modern office and cultural statement, the building remains a prominent example of early 20th-century Indian architectural modernism.
The New India Assurance Company was founded in 1919 by Sir Dorabji Tata during the Swadeshi movement, becoming one of India's first fully Indian-owned insurance firms.[1][2] Its headquarters in Mumbai's Fort district was constructed between 1935 and 1937, designed by the architectural firm Master, Sathe & Bhuta with artistic direction by sculptor N. G. Pansare. The building was part of the broader Art Deco boom in Bombay, aligning with the city's shift toward modernism and nationalism in the 1930s.[3] Its imposing facade and allegorical reliefs symbolize industrial and agrarian India, making it both a functional office and a public statement of Swadeshi pride.[2]
Architecture
The New India Assurance Building featured on the New India Assurance Centenary stamp
The New India Assurance building's design has been described as Indo-Deco, an architecture style that combines Indian design elements with Art Deco.[3][4] The building's architectural style combines modern art deco features with a modified classicism, evidenced in the strong vertical ribs of the façade that give the building a monumental appearance, making it seem larger than it is in reality.[5]
The entrance is flanked by bas-reliefs featuring women in saris and men in traditional dhoti and turbans, working in fields and in factories.[6][7] Included in the design was a modern forced air-cooling system with centralized duct work. Projecting surfaces on the eastern and western sides protect windows from the sun. To deal with potential power failures, the windows were constructed to open and close.[5]
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