Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co was founded in Calcutta in 1847 by two enterprising persons of  Scottish origin, William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie. Within a short span of time, the Company became a major player in the shipping business and formed  The Calcutta & Burmah Steam Navigation Company. The Mackinnon Mackenzie building

The four-storied Gothic structure of Bourne & Shepherd, which stands almost unnoticed next to the glamorous Metropolitan Building on S N Banerjee Road in Kolkata, was once one of the oldest photographic studios in the world. Today the building wears a barren look, just another discarded and neglected slice of cruel

Set up on the lines of the BBC, the privately owned Indian Broadcasting Company (IBC) started India’s first broadcasting studio and office in Apollo Bunder Road, Bombay. Soon they opened their Calcutta station at Temple Chamber, opposite the high court, but then moved to No 1 Garstin Place and started

Angelo Firpo, an Italian by birth and culture, traveled from Genoa to London and then Calcutta, bringing with him the flavor of Italy in the city of Calcutta. He opened the famous Firpo’s restaurants, a tea room that was the favorite spot for the aristocratic society, a renowned pastry shop, and

The Metro Cinema Hall was built by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, an American Production Company, based in Beverly Hills, USA in 1934 to promote their films in Calcutta, which had a large English-speaking population of Britishers. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, a Scottish born New York based theatre architect, The Metro had a

Designed by W.M. Dudok, Lighthouse Cinema was established in 1934 for screening exclusively Hollywood films. There was a time when Light House, with its huge sitting arrangement for 1396 persons, was considered as one of the largest cinema halls in India. However, later the capacity was reduced to 600. For

Under license from the East Indian Company, Robert Hamilton, a British national, opened his Jewellery and Silversmithing shop, named Hamilton & Co, at 5 Tank Square in 1808.  Later, as a better option, he moved his shop to 7 Court House Street in 1811, and remained there until 1973, when

Formed and incorporated in London on 15 September 1871, The Army & Navy Co-operative Society Ltd was formed by a faction of army and naval officers with the aim of supplying articles for domestic consumption and general use of its members at the lowest possible rates. It was based on

University of Calcutta was set up by the British with the aim to spread western philosophical thought among the elite in India and to create a class of Indians, who would be Indian in blood and complexion, but western in their thought and ideas. They intended to create an enlightened

James Outram was born on 29th January 1803, in Derbyshire. After the death of his father in 1805, his mother moved to Aberdeenshire in 1810. At the age of seventeen, he  started his long career as a soldier and political officer in India, and fought in the 1st Afghan War (1839–1842) and