Khotachiwadi

Khotachiwadi is a small heritage village in the Girgaon area of south Mumbai, a cluster of old Konkan-Portuguese style houses surrounded by high-rise city. More than a century ago Dadoba Waman Khot leased this wadi, or plantation, to East Indian Christian families. Of the 65 heritage homes that once stood here only 28 remain, and the area has been listed as a Grade III heritage precinct since 1995, looked after by the Khotachiwadi Welfare and Heritage Trust.

Narrow footpaths wind between 19th-century bungalows painted blue, ochre, peach, green and red. Typical features are wooden porches, sit-outs, overhanging balconies reached by outside staircases, cast-iron grilles, carved balustrades and sloping red-tiled roofs. One well-known stop is house 47G, about 200 years old, home of fashion designer James Ferreira and part gallery of family heirlooms. Small shrines and a tiny chapel with a mural of Mary on a lotus complete the lanes.