Located at Hutatma Chowk in the southern end of the historic Dadabhai Naoroji Road in Mumbai, the Flora Fountain is an exquisite piece of architecture and one of the Heritage structures of India.

Designed by Richard Norman Shaw and built in a mixture of Neo-Gothic and Indo-Saracenic architectural style, the fountain was initially named after the then Governor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere, but just before its official inauguration in 1864, the name was changed to Flora Fountain, after its crowning glory, the beautiful statue of Flora, the Roman Goddess of flowers and the season of spring, standing gracefully on the top of the fountain.

History of the Flora Fountain is traced to the time, when the Old Bombay Fort was demolished in 1860, at the initiation of Sir Bartle Frère, the then Governor of Bombay, to improve the municipal improvements, especially the civic sanitation and the requirement of more urban space in the rapidly growing city.

The old fort, surrounded by walls with three gates namely, the Apollo Gate, Church Gate and Bazaar Gate and containing a moat, a long and open promenade on its western fringe to control fires, along with residential buildings, was built by the British East India Company between 1771 and 1784 AD. Following the demolition of the fort, the adjacent narrow Hornby Road was also widened into a broad avenue, as a part of the wider development project, with its western side earmarked for commercial plots for the construction of new commercial buildings designed in Neo Classical and Gothic Revival architectural style. The Flora Fountain originally intended for the Victoria Gardens, now surmounted by the figure of Plenty, Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries, today stands on the spot of the original Church gate, named after St Thomas Cathedral that stood before the old fort.

Constructed by the Agri-Horticultural Society of Western India, out of a donation of Rs 20,000 by Cursetjee Fardoonjee Parekh, the Flora Fountain was sculpted in imported Portland stone by James Forsythe and is coated with white oil pain, which has to some extent marred the antiquity of its classical structure.

While the seven feet tall magnificent statue of the Roman Goddess Flora adorns the top of the fountain, magnifying its beauty, the four corners of the fountain are also decorated with four different life-sized female mythological figures, carrying foliage to represent the four seasons. The fountain also contains a basin in its lowest level, surrounded by figures of fishes and lion heads.

In 1960, the Flora Fountain area was renamed as Hutatma Chowk to commemorate the memory of the 105 people who lost their lives in the square, fighting for the birth of the separate Maharashtra state, with the installation of a stone statue bearing a pair of torch-holding patriots.

The Flora Fountain, declared a heritage structure and surrounded by the heritage buildings of the British-Victorian era, is very much part of the Hutatma Chowk and continues to charm the locals and visitors with its beauty, added with its spray of water. Illuminated with bright lights after the sunset, Flora Fountain offers an exquisite view to the delight of the locals and the visitors alike. Apart from sightseeing, one can also spend time shopping for local delights in the area.