Municipal Corporation Building, Mumbai

The Municipal Corporation Building, Mumbai located in South Mumbai in Maharashtra, India is a Grade IIA heritage building (‘V’ shaped as viewed from top) opposite to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (an UNESCO World heritage site) at the junction of Dadabhai Naoroji Road and Mahapalika Marg. It is also known as the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation Building, or BMC building for short.As the name suggests, the building houses the civic body that governs the city of Mumbai, which is now named the Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika (बृहन्मुंबई महानगर पालिका) or the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and which has as its motto, "यतो धर्मस्ततो जय" (Sanskrit: Yato Dharmastato Jaya or, Where there is Righteousness, there shall be Victory), inscribed on the banner of its Coat of Arms. It is said to be the largest civic organization in India as well as in Asia: it covers an area of 434km2HistoryThe BMC was created in 1865 and Arthur Crawford was its first Municipal Commissioner. The Municipality was initially housed in a modest building at the terminus of Girgaum Road. In 1870, it was shifted to a building on the Esplanade, located between Watson Hotel and the Sassoon Mechanics Institute where the present Army & Navy building is situated. On December 9, 1884, the foundation stone for the new building of the Bombay Municipal Corporation was laid opposite to the Victoria Terminus now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, by the Viceroy of the time, Lord Ripon.