Marine Drive is a three-kilometre promenade on reclaimed land along the Backbay, officially Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road, built out in the late 1930s and completed around 1940. At night the curve of streetlights is the Queen’s Necklace. The buildings along it — Kapur Mahal, Zaver Mahal, Keval Mahal and the rest, put up between 1937 and 1939 — are the largest run of Art Deco in the city and part of the UNESCO World Heritage listing of 2018.
It is also the city’s walking track. Early morning and after sunset the promenade fills with walkers and runners from the buildings behind it, which are some of the most expensive addresses in India. Before the towers, a row of seafront hotels stood along it; the Oberoi and the Trident at the Nariman Point end are the survivors of that trade.
Marine Lines, the station and the streets behind the drive, takes its name from the Marine Battalion Lines, a nineteenth-century military establishment. Bombay Hospital, the Liberty Cinema, the Chandanwadi crematorium and the cemeteries along Queen’s Road are here, and so is the Taraporewala Aquarium, built in 1951 with a gift from D. B. Taraporewala.
What is here
The landmarks and institutions the locality is known for| Name | Where | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The Oberoi and Trident | Nariman Point end of Marine Drive | The seafront hotels; one of the oldest hotel addresses on the drive, now two properties under one group. |
| Taraporewala Aquarium 1951 | Marine Drive | The city’s aquarium, funded by the Parsi businessman D. B. Taraporewala. |
| Bombay Hospital | V. Thackersey Marg, Marine Lines | One of the city’s large private hospitals, on the old Marine Lines road. |
| Liberty Cinema | Marine Lines | An Art Deco single-screen cinema, still running. |
| Kapur Mahal, Zaver Mahal, Keval Mahal 1937–39 | Marine Drive | Three of the earliest Art Deco buildings on the drive. |
| Wankhede Stadium 1974 | Marine Drive, Churchgate side | The Mumbai Cricket Association’s ground; the 2011 World Cup final was played here. |
On this site
4 places in Marine Drive Marine Lines already written up here — shops, eating houses, markets and institutionsRelated pages
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A note on this page. A short page, by design: what the locality is, what it is known for, and the places on this site that are in it. The seven localities written street by street are on the Localities page. WelcomeToMumbai.in is independent, takes no commission and does not rank or endorse.