Entrance to the restaurant that closed down in 1993. Picture by Christopher Taylor

Park Mansion at the crossing of Free School Street and Park Street will turn a century old in two years’ time. Constructed in 1910, it is a contemporary of the classic Raj buildings in this city such as Metropolitan Building on Chowringhee, and about a decade senior to apartment blocks like Queens Mansion across the street that was built by the Armenian businessman, JC Galstaun, in 1920.

Ever since the devastating fire one night in the wing that housed Alliance Francaise office had destroyed the Burma teak staircase of gate No. 4, and flames had burst out of the glass dome to leap out of the roof, the building had followed the familiar course of ruination through neglect, a fate that seems to be inevitable for all old buildings in Calcutta.

Like Queens, Park Mansion, too, was constructed by another Armenian, TM Thaddeus, on the site of the former Doveton College. He is said to have been a short man with a big tummy, and although he owned a Rolls, he moved around in a rickshaw.

The Apeejay group has acquired the building. Now, after years it is being repaired but it has already lost many layers of its chequered history.

Besides Alliance Francaise, Park Mansion also housed some well-known establishments. In 1960-61, Arts & Prints, one of the first galleries to display contemporary art, opened in Park Mansion with an exhibition of the works of Paritosh Sen, Gopal Ghosh, Prakash Karmakar, Rabin Mandal and Chintamoni Kar.

General Manekshaw would walk across the Maidan from Fort William. Two other establishments that have closed down and have passed into our collective memories were Bombay Photo Stores and the fabled restaurant, Skyroom.

Bombay Photo Stores was opened in 1940 by J.C. Patel, who is himself a skilful photographer. It closed after 64 long years, and now the space is occupied by glitzy showrooms. Till quite recently, the only memento that Skyroom had left behind was its signboard that once was traced in blue neonlight.

Tiny and unostentatious though its décor was, Skyroom was the place for gastronomes and its fame had spread far and wide. It is said that Satyajit Ray had once wanted to shoot in Skyroom but he was politely denied permission. The reason: the owner was not interested in films.

A mill owner in Mumbai would make sure he never arrived in Calcutta on a Tuesday because Skyroom used to be closed that day — such was his craving for food served in that restaurant. Everything from its silver goblets, stewards in uniforms with gold buttons, aerated water and ice cream spelt class. But it quietly closed shop in 1993.