(From top) The Bhutorias’ first-floor apartment is filled with antiques like this over 100-year-old Victorian bed in a guestroom; The tastefully done living room on the first floor doubles up as a study; Sundeep and Manjari Bhutoria have reserved an entire apartment for their parties

Its gorgeous colonial style interiors and stunning art works have won many admirers over the years. This posh apartment on Little Russell Street is, after all, a favourite haunt of the who’s who, including governors and politicians of all ilk, as well as actors and poets.

Certainly, Sundeep Bhutoria, the man who owns this home and who’s associated with the Calcutta Film Festival, is popular among the city’s jet-set for the lavish parties and events he organises.

Bhutoria owns the Ess Bee business group, which has interests in consultancy, manufacturing and finance. But he has relinquished his business role to his wife, Manjari, he says, and focuses, among others, on the Prabha Khaitan Foundation, a trust named after his mother.

From the outside, the Jubilee Park apartment building, where Bhutoria lives with Manjari and their two dogs, seems like any other beautiful old, if run-down, Calcutta building. It is 100 years old, and Bhutoria owns the ground, first and third floors here.

But you’re in for a surprise once you climb the old wooden stairs to the first floor. For the apartment is a veritable treasure trove of art and sculpture.

The living room in the Bhutorias’s third-floor apartment resembles the Queen’s Suite at ITC Sonar Calcutta

“Hardly any of the works were bought by us. Most of them were gifted to my mother or me by the artists,” says Bhutoria. His mother, Dr Prabha Khaitan, a feminist writer, was the first woman president of the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce. She received three President’s awards.

“My mother designed this floor,” says Bhutoria. The setting is entirely colonial, with Burma teak floors and muted tones throughout. “This floor is only used to entertain,” explains Bhutoria. All the rooms in this 2,600sq ft apartment are interconnected, so they’re thrown open whenever the Bhutorias have one of their famous parties.

As you enter the apartment, you step into a small sitting area, one end of which overlooks the lawns below. Your eyes are immediately drawn to a painting on the Calcutta Film Festival, done by artist Wasim Kapoor.

An African statue and a Ghanaian mask, all picked up by Sundeep on his travels

Walk into the adjacent music room and you’ll find several F.N. Souzas and Raja Ravi Varmas stacked casually. “I’ve yet to find a place for them,” shrugs Bhutoria. The floor has another large sitting area, a dining room, master kitchen and two guest rooms. And they’re all filled with art.

The dining room on the first floor is in keeping with the colonial style of the rest of this apartment

Take, for instance, the dining room with its period teak dining table and Belgian glass mirrors. In one corner, lies a marble bull that was gifted to Bhutoria’s mother by the Kanchipuram Shankaracharya. Elsewhere are masks from Ghana, Tibetan vases, brass sculptures and Chinese and Korean dolls. His mother picked up the pieces on her travels, says Bhutoria.

The adjoining living room with its three large bookcases doubles as a study. “There are over 3,000 books here,” says Bhutoria. Holding pride of place is an antique writing table, which once belonged to famous Bengali author Satinath Bhaduri. The period look is carried over to the spacious guestrooms, one of which has an over 100-year-old Victorian bed.

(From top) An old Belgian glass mirror adorns a corner of the first floor dining room; A wooden door with 300 paintings is a striking feature of the first floor living room

The first floor is only the public face of the Bhutorias, though. Take the old-fashioned elevator to the third floor, and you enter a different zone. This is their personal space — and the décor’s more modern here.

“Your home is your comfort area, and I wanted our living space to be completely separate from the party zone,” says Bhutoria. The 2,400sq ft third floor apartment has large dining and living rooms, two large bedrooms and another smaller one. “This floor was designed by my wife,” says Bhutoria. Manjari did up this floor — the Bhutorias acquired it three years ago — as a surprise for Sundeep, who used to spend a lot of time at ITC Sonar Calcutta.

“It’s inspired by the Queen’s suite at ITC since we both stayed there for a while after our marriage. So when I first entered this apartment, it came as a huge surprise,” recounts Bhutoria.

Everything from the wood-panelled master bedroom down to the mineral water bottles and white rolled towels by the bedside and the living room resembles the ITC suite.

There’s more art here. A large Paritosh Sen work greets you at the entrance. There are paintings by Partho Bhattacharya and a Gustav Klimt print too in the house.

Like his mother, Bhutoria has gathered souvenirs on his travels, which are placed in a cabinet in the small bedroom, like the pen stand made from an animal hoof from South Africa.

The Bhutorias have lovingly placed every work of art and collectible in their home. And while they enjoy the privacy of their personal space on the third floor, they’re happy to open the doors of their first floor apartment to the celebs of Calcutta.