Did Mumbai get the wrong CST station?

Note: Mumbai and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus have been referred to as Bombay and Victoria Terminus respectively, to maintain continuity in the historic context of the story

FW Stevens' inspiration for VT
St Pancras Station, London (1868-74): Experts maintain that this station, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, was Stevens' chief inspiration. Pancras' innovative domes, arches, pinnacled tower at the centre with a porte-cochere entrance below and clock tower, as well as long train sheds leading outwards bear a striking resemblance to Victoria Terminus. Most link this connect with the fact that when Stevens left for his ten-month long furlough to study other important railway termini, this particular landmark had just been completed and may have impacted his design sense for VT.


(Top) St Pancras Station in London; (Below) The Reichstag or German
Parliament in Berlin



German Houses of Parliament (Reichstag), Berlin (1872): Sir GG Scott's design had only been published four years prior to Stevens' first proposal. Common elements include a central dome topped by an allegorical figure, office wings that run at right angles to the main block and three entrance doors and gables at the ground level that are surmounted by a set of three bays of windows with a rose window above.

Other buildings that influenced FW Stevens: Government House at Whitehall and Midland Grand Hotel, London. Both were designed by Sir GG Scott.

Whose land is it anyway?
For Victoria Terminus, about 80 acres had to be reclaimed from the harbour side. As early as 1861, the Bombay Government had entered into an agreement with the Elphinstone Land and Press Company to reclaim two-thirds of Mody Bay, of which 100 acres were to be given for the construction of VT. In the early days, the area on which VT stood was called Bori Bunder. This area was a landing place for boats, and was used for loading and unloading of duty-free goods and other produce.