The House Where Jinnah Lived: Story of a Malabar Hill Bungalow in Mumbai

Much like Jinnah himself, the house has been a controversial figure in India's post-Partition history.

Spread over almost 2.5 acre of land in south Mumbai's plush Malabar Hill neighbourhood, is an abandoned bungalow which once belonged to All India Muslim League leader and founder of Pakistan – Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Last week, BJP MLA and Mumbai city chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha, also a prominent businessman and real estate developer, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah to urge that Jinnah House be converted into a cultural centre, as was decided in 2018.

Lodha represents the Malabar Hill constituency and has been consistent in his demand for the demolition of Jinnah House. But this isn't the first or the only time that this Malabar Hill bungalow has made headlines.

Much like Jinnah himself, the house has been a controversial figure in the post-Partition history of the Indian subcontinent as it became embroiled in several legal disputes over the past decades.

In light of the recent developments, we trace the history of Jinnah House, the ownership dispute, and through them, some lesser known facts about Jinnah himself.

How Did Jinnah House Enter 'Mumbai's Most Famous Bungalows' Club?

One of Mumbai's most famous and controversial bungalows, Jinnah House has managed to stay relevant even eight decades after it was built. But very few are aware that the mighty bungalow, which now is in a state of ruins, was initially built by razing another Goanese-style bungalow called the South Court which stood in its place.

It was this South Court bungalow that Muhammad Ali Jinnah and his second wife Rattanbai Petit made home after their wedding in 1918.

However, years after Rattanbai's death, Jinnah razed the South Court bungalow and started building a house that would for years become a major bone of contention between India and Pakistan.

Designed by architect Claude Batley, the sea-facing palatial bungalow was built in 1936 at an exorbitant price (for that time) of Rs 2 lakh.

Located at 2, Bhausaheb Hirey Marg in south Mumbai, the house overlooks the current residence of the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and is now locked up and barred to all visitors.

The Quint spoke to Vikas Dilawari, a Mumbai-based conservation architect, who has had the fortune to visit and view the sprawling white mansion from inside. Dilawari says that the house was designed to Jinnah's taste – and he was intimately involved with its planning and design.

"It is a unique example of Art Deco with accents of Islamic taste as seen in its arcade and the internal court and location, ie, axially with the gate. The unique blend of the style can well be termed as 'Indo Deco'."

Vikas Dilawari, Conservation Architect

Dilawari further adds that the Islamic elements in the house are predominantly seen in the entrance gate and the arcade – both of which are public areas. The higher floor has only Art Deco or modern style, a reflection of the personal space and taste of the owner.

Freedom Struggle, Partition & Jinnah's Hopes of Returning to India

Jinnah's taste and interest in property reflects multiple facets of his personality, says Bharat Gothoskar. Gothoskar is a heritage buff and founder of Khaki Tours, an organisation which takes people on heritage walks across the city of Mumbai.

"Just before Partition, Jinnah showed keen interest in buying a place called the Sandow Castle on the island of Trombay. It was a Parsi-owned estate. This clearly shows that Jinnah was perhaps not fully convinced that Partition will happen," he says.

Gothoskar further recollects an anecdote narrated to him by a now Canadian citizen, whose family moved to Pakistan during the Partition.

"One day I met this Canadian gentleman who visited Jinnah's house as a child with his parents," Gothoskar says. "While his parents were talking to Jinnah, the child managed to sneak into the study where he found Jinnah's smoking pipe. Just when he keeps the pipe in his mouth, in walks Jinnah who instead of being mad at the boy, jokingly said, 'we both seem to like the same brand of the pipe.'"

In a column for Mint, Sheela Reddy, the author of Mr and Mrs Jinnah: The Marriage That Shook India, writes that the year Jinnah moved into his new house was also ironically the year when he declared for the first time that Muslims were to form a separate nation.

"It cost the astounding sum (for that time) of Rs 2 lakh, but was totally worth it as far as Jinnah was concerned. It was useful for impressing people with the transformation he had undergone, from plain Mr Jinnah to Quaid-i-Azam (great leader)."

Reddy, in her book, emphasises that the story of the rise and fall of Jinnah House is essentially the story of the rise and fall of Muhammad Ali Jinnah himself.

"Perhaps nothing epitomises the perishing of Jinnah’s dreams more than the decaying bungalow that he had built for himself with such high investment of hope and money nearly 80 years ago," Reddy writes.

Who Owns Jinnah House? Timeline of The Dispute

In August 1947, as Jinnah moved to Karachi in Pakistan, he left behind properties in Delhi and Mumbai.

He sold his house at Delhi's 10 Aurangzeb Road to one of his closest friends and industrialist Ramkrishna Dalmia, who then sold it to the Government of Netherlands for Rs 5 lakh. The house now functions as the Dutch consulate.

However, as far as his Malabar Hill bungalow was concerned, he made no such decisions and it was left for his lawyers to deal with.

Most historians point out that Jinnah did not sell the house because he was hoping to live there whenever he returned to his beloved city of Bombay (now Mumbai).

Sri Prakasa, who served as India's first High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1947 to 1949, in his memoir Pakistan: Birth And Early Years details how Jinnah had sent multiple requests to the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to not rent out his house and had stated that he would one day want to return to Bombay and visit the place.

Although, that never happened.

In September 1948, when Jinnah died in Karachi, he left the house in the name of his sister Fatima Jinnah in his will. It is believed that the Indian government then purchased the house from Fatima.

The house was later let out to the British High Commission till early 1980s.

Since then, the Pakistan government on numerous occasions has requested India to sell the property, in order to convert it into their consulate.

Though in 1980, PV Narasimha Rao, the then foreign minister of India, agreed in-principle to lease Jinnah House as the residence of local Consulate-General of Pakistan, the plan was never green-lit.

A major turning point in the ownership dispute of the mansion came in the year 2007 when Dina Wadia, the only daughter of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, approached the Bombay High Court claiming that being his sole legal heir, she should get the possession of the house. Dina had married Parsi-born Indian, Neville Wadia, and had settled in India after Partition.

Ten years later, after the death of Dina Wadia in 2017, the Bombay High Court allowed her son and Wadia Group chairman Nusli Wadia to replace her as a petitioner in the case. The case is still open.

BJP, Shiv Sena & Calls For Demolition

Much like Jinnah, his house has made noises in India's political hallways over the years.

In 2016, the Lokmanya Tilak Swarajya Bhoomi Trust wrote to the Public Works Department, saying that it wants to build a memorial for freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak on that land. Pertinent to note here is that Jinnah had fought Tilak’s case in the Bombay High Court in 1908.

In 2017, the BJP's South Mumbai legislator Lodha called for the house to be razed to the ground to make way for a cultural centre.

Lodha found support in Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, who described the estate as "a symbol of Jinnah's thrust towards Partition". Shewale proposed that a memorial for freedom fighters should be built on the land.

Again, in 2018, Lodha claimed that his proposal to convert Jinnah House into South Asia Centre for Art and Culture was in-principle accepted by the Indian Council for Cultural Research.

With Lodha now meeting Home Minister Shah to reiterate his demand, and the ownership case still on in the Bombay High Court, the future of Jinnah House looks hazy.