In the late nineteenth century Bombay witnessed a remarkably acceleration in construction activity, especially in public buildings designed explicitly to display the Imperial image. Today these buildings all designed in the Victorian Gothic tradition collectively assert a character for south Bombay that is unique in India. What was particularly important about the design and positioning of these buildings was their brilliant interface between the urbanity of the Fort and the green of Esplanade. But more importantly together they perhaps represent the first consciously conceived urban design gestures to be found in colonial India.