Legal & Colonial History

David Sassoon Library and Reading Room

Kala Ghoda, Mumbai · Closed now

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AddressKala Ghoda, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Managed byDavid Sassoon Library and Reading Room Trust

Today's hoursOpen today 9 AM – 10 PM

Tickets fromFree

TypeHistoric Building

Time needed30–60 min

Location

About

A subscription library founded in 1847 by Sir David Sassoon, a prominent Baghdadi Jewish merchant and philanthropist in colonial Bombay, housed in a Gothic Revival building completed in 1870. Its reading rooms and book collection have served Mumbai's literary and intellectual community for over 175 years, and the building remains a working library rather than a museum. Interior access is restricted to registered members, though the building's ornamented stone facade is a well-known Kala Ghoda landmark viewable at any time. It sits at the heart of the precinct that hosts the annual Kala Ghoda Arts Festival.

Did you know? David Sassoon Library, opened in 1870, was built by the same Sassoon family that funded the Knesset Eliyahoo Synagogue — its reading room still uses the original 19th-century teak furniture and remains a functioning library today.