IMAGES Year: 2001
Location: Mumbai

The Cathedral and John Connon Junior School is located in the Fort area and bound by the main arterial M.G.Road on the west, Marzaban Road on the east and Napier Road on the north. The original building designed by John Adams was completed in November 1881. Over the years, like the other two buildings, various insensitive interventions have taken place.The building had also deteriorated structurally. The work consisted of restoration of the heritage building, expansion and upgrading of the later additions and the addition of a fourth floor over the entire footprint of the building. Construction started in August 1999 and was completed in December 2001. The present total built up area is 3066 sq.m. As in the case of the senior and middle schools, this school was in an extremely run-down condition.Toilets were located in corridor spaces resulting in extensive leakages and service lines criss-crossing the corridors, encroachment of corridor spaces by rooms and storage areas, rotting of wooden joists, damaged stone work, cornices and column capitals and deterioration of the roof members and the spire over the staircase block. All existing wooden windows and doors have been polished and reused. So our work combined restoring all the elements of the wonderful heritage building and integrating the new construction with the old building in a cohesive and harmonious manner.The two wooden existing staircases have been repaired and polished; highlighting the wonderful detailing that existed. In the contemporary addition, two new staircases have been constructed. Toilet banks for girls, boys and staff have been introduced. An independent r.c.c. framework from within the building supports the additional floor load. The rooms on the third floor are made column free by using steel portal frames for supporting the roof. The total numbers of classrooms are now 15 and other facilities include an art room, a multipurpose room, a library, a gymnasium and a computer l