THE NEW GENERATION OF ENTREPRENEURS GIVING KOLKATA’S HERITAGE BUILDINGS A FRESH START

On a leafy stretch near Kolkata's Southern Avenue, the three-level designer store Bombaim is a hive of activity. Young locals breeze through its centuries-old doors, trying on silks and gowns, admiring the space's bones. Large windows allow ample sunlight to stream through, illuminating the mulmul curtains that fall from the ceilings. Outside, lush tejpatta, or bay leaf, trees grow. The Art Deco grills and the city's signature khorkhoris, or louvered windows, reflect the store's previous life as a turn-of-the-century residence. Bombaim's owner, Richa Kanoi, made a point of preserving its historic splendor. “The launch was more about celebrating the space than the clothes,” she says.

Kanoi is one of dozens of Kolkatan creatives who have been reclaiming the old homes of residential South Kolkata over the past five years and reviving them as cutting-edge galleries, artisanal coffeehouses, chic boutiques, thoughtful restaurants, edgy cocktail bars, and more. The architectural style of these stately buildings stems from 18th-century Kolkata, the capital of British India for more than a century, when European colonialists saw a place ripe for their grand global building enterprise. Back then, Kolkata was Calcutta—the second city of the British empire and a fulcrum of its financial endeavors around the world. The cityscape included impressive marble edifices built by the British and palatial homes constructed by the rich merchants and zamindars (landowners). These houses were a mix of neoclassical, Art Deco, and traditional Bengali, but one thing they all had in common was the window styles, invariably painted a similar shade of green. For me, these buildings carry memories of the South Kolkata I grew up in, and for many Kolkatans they are a vital piece of identity and legacy. They symbolize the many layers of the city's past: colonial beginnings, Bengali renaissance, the freedom struggle, the Communist government, and today's deep-rooted urban multicultural identity.

And yet, until the early 2000s, the city willfully destroyed much of this material heritage, tearing down these beautiful houses to clear a path for modern development. Governments and conservation boards ignored the voices of Kolkatans, who mounted advocacy campaigns to save these important structures. But in 2015, author Amit Chaudhuri started a citizen-led campaign called Calcutta Architectural Legacies to preserve the city's architectural inheritance. He was joined by urban conservationists, architects, and homeowners. A new wave of creatives also emerged; they saw a future in these old homes, as well as a way to make them commercially viable. They were visionaries like Priyanka and Prateek Raja, who launched the multidisciplinary gallery Experimenter, and artisans Malavika and Jeet Banerjee who founded the handloomed-sari boutique Byloom in 2010. The movement gained further momentum when the photographer Manish Golder founded the Instagram account Calcutta Houses (@calcuttahouses) to document these old residences in an attempt to preserve their memories and records before they disappear. “When I photograph a house, it's like taking a portrait of a person,” he says, “as a house also has its distinct personality and a story.” The model and poet Karuna Ezara Parikh started using the old homes as backdrops for her fashion shoots, amassing nearly 100,000 Instagram followers. Together, these various entrepreneurs have dared to imagine a new narrative for these buildings and the city at large, one that looks beyond cheap nostalgia and strives to reinstill a love for the city's collective heritage among younger Kolkatans.

“As a child, I always wondered why Kolkata looked so old. It was only later that I realized that the city has among the highest number of heritage structures in India,” says the architect Shashank Shahabadi. “It's just that they are not preserved.” In 2019, a demolition notice outside a decrepit 1907 house caught his eye. After three years of loving restoration, he co-opened the Bhawanipur House as a café with a gorgeous alfresco courtyard inspired by colonial Kolkata's Victorian aesthetic. With coffee, kombucha, and an all-day menu of continental fare, it was the neighborhood's first café in such a chic setting. The restaurateur Harsh Sonthalia was similarly drawn by the intrigue of history to the century-old Harrington Mansion back in 2019. “One of the big reasons to move here was the high ceilings, as all the products I wanted to create would be elevated by this sense of space,” he says. He reimagined the interiors for a nightclub called Please Don't Talk (PDT). The space has grown to include the restaurant Jalsa as well as Asian cocktail house Soba Sassy.

Steps from Bombaim, on an enviable corner on verdant Southern Avenue, is Bunaphile Roasters, a colorful café amid a hodgepodge of yoga studios, meditation halls, and private residences. The space, which opened in July 2023, retains the home's original layout, as well as its louvered windows, doors, and pillars. “I noticed that many of the cafés that existed in this area drew on Italy, Spain, and Russia for their cues. There was very little that Kolkata itself inspired. That baffled me because this is such a beautiful city,” says Sonika Dey, a self-made Bengali entrepreneur whose growing café portfolio showcases the aesthetics of old-world Kolkata. Her love of Bengali art and crafts created the backbone of Bunaphile's design. “I wanted a modern version of a colonial coffeehouse set in a heritage home where the decor was Bengali and the food and coffee would appeal to millennials,” says Dey.

A similar desire to showcase Bengal's craft and produce drives the enterprise at Sienna Store & Cafe. Started in 2015 by mother-daughter duo Shanta and Shuli Ghosh on the ground floor of an old Bengali home, it began as an indie boutique and café that sold homemade baked goods. In the eight years since, Shuli has been joined by her husband, Rewant Lokesh, and the chef Auroni Mookerjee. Together they have honed the made-in-Bengal focus of their products and menu. From Ghosh's jamdani dresses and miniature khorkhori earrings to Mookerjee's modern dishes that draw inspiration from Bengal's markets, Sienna Store & Cafe is a laboratory for adaptive reuse of the city's traditions and nostalgia. The success of Sienna Store & Cafe, which frequently appears on India's Best Restaurant lists, has breathed energy into its surroundings. On any given evening, you will see people chatting over iced coffees on the mudas outside its doors. Neighbors walk in with their pets. Hipsters shop for sustainable jholas. The chefs pop out to say hello. This vibe carries across to the neighboring lanes, where an ever-growing list of cafés includes Flurys, which sits inside a turn-of-the-century home with curved balconies, bright pink khorkhoris, and a Parisian-style terrace to become one of the most photographed corners in the neighborhood.

While the heritage houses of South Kolkata are part of a café revolution, the nearby Ballygunge Place neighborhood is prepping for a renaissance. The 75-year-old home of one of Bengal's most famous artists, Jamini Roy, has been acquired by DAG (Delhi Art Gallery) and is being repurposed into the Jamini Roy Residence, a museum, café, and cultural resource center celebrating Roy's oeuvre. A lane away, the pioneering Priyanka and Prateek Raja turned two floors of the 100-year-old home of the late art critic Aveek Sen, a family friend, into their second gallery, retaining its vintage tiles, khorkhoris, and Art Deco grills. After this second outpost of Experimenter opened in 2018, Sen kept living on the floor below, strolling in to chat about art and life until his passing in 2021. The space houses sound-centric exhibitions intermixing oral narratives and classical Indian ragas with installations and videos, all in an old Bengali home with beautiful light-filled corridors and rooms with tiles and balconies. “For us, the architecture plays a very strong role in the exhibition,” says Priyanka.

Standing proud in a back lane of Kalighat, home to the city's most venerated temple dedicated to the goddess Kali, is a beautiful house with distinct semicircular windows, recently christened the Red Bari. When I first saw the 90-year-old four-story home, it was getting ready for its final coat of brick red paint—the exact shade it received nearly a century ago. The road to transforming the Red Bari into a café, coworking space, and B&B wasn't always easy for owner Avantika Jalan. “It's easier to break something down and build anew than to change an existing design to make it more practical,” she says. She hopes to document it all as an interactive experience for visitors throughout the house. “I want to highlight what it takes to buy an old home and to turn it into a commercial space, because I believe there are learnings that may help others.”

Where to eat

Sprawling across 7,000 square feet of the grounds of a 160-year-old building, Bunaphile Roasters is a year-old café, said to be Kolkata's largest. Flamboyant fare like marigold daiquiris and mango panna cotta brighten the tables of this Jalsa's glamorous dining room, styled as if the assignment were “Gatsby in West Bengal.” Locals love café-and-shop combo Sienna Store & Cafe, owned by mother-and-daughter duo Shanta and Shuli Ghosh, for the ways it spotlights the produce, craftsmanship, and traditions of Bengal.

Old colonial Kolkata sings in the design of three-level establishment The Bhawanipur House. The dining rooms, bakery, tea lounge, and terrace are all decorated with woodwork, period furniture, and photographs from another era. Unmissable due to its visually arresting red façade, The Red Bari serves excellent coffee from Mumbai's Subko Specialty Coffee Roasters and pastries from local bakeries.

Where to drink

A blossoming cherry tree reaches to the ceiling of cocktail house Soba Sassy inside the renowned Harrington Mansion, which is split between a “sassy” bar area that stirs inventive drinks and a “soba” (i.e., sober) dining space. Speakeasy-style joint Little Bit Sober is adorned with red velvet curtains whips up clever cocktails that belie its cheeky name, like old-fashioneds with ghee-washed whiskey—great for sipping at jazz nights or on the terrace with city views. Skinny Mo's Jazz Club, a former 20th-century home, has been redone in smart gray with Art Deco signage, a bistro, a boutique, and a jazz bar, all while keeping the home's old floor plan intact.

Where to shop

Housed inside a two-story home with white khorkhoris and slatted wooden doors, boutique Byloom, sells saris and Bengali products, and is a neighborhood favorite. Luxury multibrand shop Bombaim is more akin to an art gallery, featuring garments by Indian designers in a revitalized space with marble floors and chalky pink walls within a century-old home. “The beauty here lies in what you can save and repurpose,” says owner Richa Kanoi. Inside the former residence of one of Kolkata's pioneering industrialists sit high-end jewelers, fashion stores, restaurants, and exhibition spaces at Galleria 1910.

Where to see art

Local and international contemporary artists are on display at both locations of seminal gallery Experimenter. The spaces also host salon-style events with filmmakers and more. When the house museum opens, Jamini Roy Residence will be the largest collection of paintings by the Bengali master, largely focused on the Bengali people and lore, all displayed within his former family home.

Where to stay

Built in the early 1900s, restored B&B Lal Bari formerly served as a meeting place for freedom fighters and was even visited by Indira Gandhi. Spacious rooms ooze old-world charm, with details like bright red-painted floors and hand-carved armchairs. 19th-century grande dame The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata offers a serene refuge amid the busy shopping district of Chowringhee, with cultural excursions like a Spice Route–inspired tour. Modern luxury with attentive service is the name of the game at 281-room tower JW Marriott Hotel Kolkata. Equidistant from the city center and the airport, the property features a spa, two restaurants, and a nightclub.

This article appeared in the May/June 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.