Ever wondered how beautiful and classy Kolkata looked over 75 to 100 years ago?
Strand, a pretty pictureque artery of yesteryear Kolkata, ran parallel to Hooghly's east bank, linking the famous Prinsep Ghat with Bagbazar.
An 1851 sketch of Chitpur or Chittapore Road, one of Kolkata's oldest streets, named for Goddess Chitteswari and the site of the home of the Nawab of Chitpur.
Circa 1945. Once the centre of Kolkata -- Esplanade, the Maidan -- till as late as 1600s, was a jungle where tigers lived, and nearby was the village of Chowringhee, that became Kolkata's most important thoroughfare.
The 1943-commissioned Howrah bridge has been a wonderfully eye-catching addition to the city's skyline for over 80 years.
Kolkata of the 1800s was considered an especially elegant, colonial capital;t it was nicknamed the City of Palaces and St Petersburg of the East. And the wide Chowringhee was Main Street Cal.
This Cal portrait has been titled Street Scene in Native Quarter, 1792.
Another shot of Old Court House Street from 1880. Came into existence in 1781. Named for a court house that once stood on the spot where today St Andrew's Church is located. Great Eastern Hotel is on this street too.
Buffaloes ambling down Old Court House Street on a morning constitutional in 1945.
Kolkata ivory workers in 1903.
A shot of the 18th century-established wholesale market and commerical district of the central-north section of the city -- Burrabazaar. Photographed in the late 1800s.
Now the Raj Bhavan, the earlier-named Government House was built in 1803 at the cost of £3.8 million (as per today's prices) and the residence of the viceroy till the capital of British India moved to Delhi in 1911.
An etching of sepoys ceremonially parading at the Esplanade, circa 1800, close to the Hooghly. Another business district and transport hub of the city.