Kolkata Storybook
Stories Hidden Within The City
Exploring Kolkata's forgotten mansions, hidden courtyards, colonial landmarks, Nawabi heritage, historic businesses, and untold stories — one chapter at a time.
85 Park Street, Kolkata
A Heritage Landmark in the Heart of the City
Stories from across the city
From Park Street's forgotten Nawabi mansions to the silent obelisks of South Park Street Cemetery heritage Kolkata, narrated.
Residence of Sir Wasif Ali Mirza
The forgotten Park Street mansion of the last reigning Nawab of Murshidabad — and the lives quietly unfolding within its walls today.
Read Story →Marble Palace
An 1835 neoclassical residence still inhabited by the Mullick family, where Rubens canvases hang above pristine courtyards.
Read Story →Victoria Memorial
Curzon's white marble dream and the empire's final architectural sigh, narrated through the gardens that surround it.
Read Story →South Park Street Cemetery
Banyan roots wrap obelisks of forgotten East India Company officers — a moss-thick necropolis at the heart of the city.
Read Story →Old Chinatown — Tiretta Bazaar
Before dawn, steamed buns and hand-rolled noodles rise in the lanes of Asia's only Chinatown that still holds onto its past.
Read Story →Sovabazar Rajbari
The 18th-century palace where Kolkata's first community Durga Puja was staged — and where the traditions still echo today.
Read Story →About the Residence
A Window into Bengal's Nawabi Heritage
The Residence of Sir Wasif Ali Mirza, situated at 85 Park Street in Kolkata, is a historic property intrinsically linked to Bengal's Nawabi heritage. Sir Wasif Ali Mirza served as the Nawab of Bengal, holding a position of considerable cultural and administrative significance during a transformative period in the region's history.
The property at 85 Park Street reflects the architectural grandeur and cultural sophistication of the era. Located in one of Kolkata's most historically significant thoroughfares, the residence stands as a physical reminder of the city's layered past, where Nawabi traditions intersected with colonial-era urbanism.
Today, while the building continues to function as a commercial complex housing several businesses, its historical and architectural significance remains an important part of Kolkata's heritage landscape.
Courtyard area of the Residence of Sir Wasif Ali Mirza at 85 Park Street, Kolkata
Forgotten Kolkata
Behind tin shutters and re-painted facades, the city keeps its quieter histories — courtyards where zamindars once held court, staircases that climb into nothing, addresses that still appear in 19th-century directories but on no current map.
We document them slowly. With permission. With photographs and oral history. Before the next monsoon takes another wall.
READ THE FORGOTTEN →South Park Street Cemetery
Banyan roots wrap obelisks of forgotten East India Company officers — a moss-thick necropolis at the heart of the city.
READ STORY →Old Chinatown — Tiretta Bazaar
Before dawn, steamed buns and hand-rolled noodles rise in the lanes of Asia's only Chinatown that still holds onto its past.
READ STORY →Explore by category
Ten threads that braid into the city's larger story.
Explore the Heritage
Historical Background
Discover the biography of Sir Wasif Ali Mirza, his role as Nawab of Bengal, and the historical significance of this landmark property.
READ HISTORYArchitecture & Heritage
Explore the architectural elements that define this residence—from colonial influences to Nawabi design traditions.
VIEW ARCHITECTUREBusinesses Within
The historic complex today houses several establishments including Salon 85, Click 72, Vernika Motors, and other offices.
VIEW BUSINESSESThen & Now
The same address, a hundred years apart. Drag, compare, and watch a streetcar route turn into a flyover, a stable into a salon.
An interactive heritage map
Pin by pin, we are charting the city — landmarks, hidden mansions, lost cinemas, Park Street stories, and the quiet businesses that occupy them now.
Open the map →