In the mid-1700s, the Master Shipbuilder Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia built a grand bungalow in tony Parel, which came to be known as Lowji Castle – with an imposing entrance hall and a wide oak- wood balustrade leading from it to the living area! Lighting up the entrance lobby were several colourful stained-glass panels with the family crest and motto – “Honor and Magnanimity” along with the sailing ship at the centre of the design! Several generations of the Wadia family lived in this palatial abode right up to the late 1800s. It is recounted by J.B.H. Wadia's family members that the elite of Bombay society wined and dined at the ‘castle’ including senior members of the British establishment.
A STAINED- GLASS PANEL FROM LOWJI CASTLE - circa 1750 A.D.
Dimension: 25 x 14 in. (Price On Request)
In the mid-1700s, the Master Shipbuilder Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia built a grand bungalow in tony Parel, which came to be known as Lowji Castle – with an imposing entrance hall and a wide oak- wood balustrade leading from it to the living area! Lighting up the entrance lobby were several colourful stained-glass panels with the family crest and motto – “Honor and Magnanimity” along with the sailing ship at the centre of the design! Several generations of the Wadia family lived in this palatial abode right up to the late 1800s. It is recounted by J.B.H. Wadia's family members that the elite of Bombay society wined and dined at the ‘castle’ including senior members of the British establishment.
In the early 1900s, J.B.H. Wadia, a direct descendant of the family came to own Lowji Castle and established his company Wadia Movietone there adopting the Wadia leitmotif of the sailing ship in its company logo. By this time the building needed a lot of repairs and the stained–glass panels were removed during that time. We are indeed fortunate that J.B.H. and later Riyad Wadia took pains to preserve this heritage.
Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia
Picture Credits: https://parsi-times.com/2018/03/parsis-the-change-makers-of-india/
Lowji Nusserwanji Wadia, a noted shipbuilder, founded the Wadia Group in 1736. The Wadia family had already established themselves in Surat , an important sea port on the west coast of India. This was also where the British East India Company was first established. Already aware of Lowji’s penchant for shipbuilding workmanship, The British East India Company secured the services of Lowji to build docks and ships in Bombay in 1736. Lowji Wadia, leading a team of ten carpenters, reached Bombay from Surat after a written request from the British Government in 1736. Lowji Wadia progressed the Wadia shipbuilding dynasty after accepting a contract from the British East India Company to build docks and ships in Bombay (now Mumbai).
Lowji and his brother Sorabji built Asia’s first dry-dock, the Bombay dry-dock in 1750.
Lowji Wadia transformed Bombay into one of the most prominent harbour towns in Asia. The city soon became a viable trading port for all ships from the West and East. And in gratitude to Lowji’s contribution and achievements, he was awarded the title of Master Shipbuilder - and gifted several plots of land. Bomanjee Wadia - the grandfather of J.B.H. and Homi Wadia, was the last in the family to work as a master shipbuilder for the East India Company. Lowji has fittingly been called the founder of the shipping industry in Bombay, passing away in 1774. His sons Maneckji and Bomanji built on and continued his legacy of integrity, industry and ability.
A fine portrait of HMS Trincomalee during her second commission
The Wadia family gained fame as one of the pioneers of the Indian shipbuilding industry. By the 1840s, the Wadias had built over a hundred warships for Britain with many trading networks worldwide. As per the book The Bombay Dockyard and the Wadia Master Builders, the ship HMS Trincomalee was built by Lowji’s nephew - Jamshedji Bamanji Wadia, and launched on October 12, 1817, for the British Navy. Later the ship was renamed Foudroyant (1897). It served the British during the Crimean War (1852-1857) and World War II (1939-1945) and is now reposed in Hartlepool, Britain, currently preserved as a museum ship. Seven generations of Wadia master-shipbuilders have built ships in Bombay. Several ships were constructed for the Indian and British Navy. When their association with the Bombay Dockyard came to an end in 1913, the Lowji Wadia family had left a bequest of over 400 ships, from barques to schooners, merchant vessels and man-o-wars, cutters and clippers, frigates, water boats to steamships!
