The historic city of Calcutta was the capital of British India for a long time, which is stretched from 1772 to 1911. During that time, the city was also the most important business centre of the country. As the city was slowly growing up from the advent of the 19th century, it has numerous heritage buildings tucked in its every nook and corner, some of which are more than 200 years old.

A few yards walk from the Grand Hotel towards Park Street, standing tall on 23 Chowringhee Road, (re named Jawaharlal Nehru Road), with its massive hanging porch, an impressive ochre yellow building wears the name Bible Society in bold on its façade. According to a meeting held on 21 February 1811, at the college of Fort William, it was formed as Auxiliary to the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804), and entitled as the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, with the sole aim to translate, publish and circulate Bibles.

It is the second oldest Bible House in the world, built barely seven years after the Bible House in London and had its jurisdiction extended up to Sri Lanka and Myanmar, until the middle of the 20th century. However, from the Calcutta Auxiliary Bible Society, it came to be known as the Bible Society of India, 33 years later after its inception. It was the head quarters of the Bible Society in India, until the head office moved to Bangalore, now Bangaluru, in the 1960s.

With its arching Romanesque pillars, the grand winding Burma teak staircase, the floor to ceiling louvre or tall windows with adjustable horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain and direct sunshine, the building has a charm of its own. The bookstore is stocked with Bibles and other Christian scriptures in different languages.

The first floor of the building, equipped with two halls and cupboards full of scriptures, is open to the public. The window adjoining the entrance and facing the outside pavement has a wooden stand with a Bible on it, so that any passer-by can have a glimpse of it.

However, ravaged over time, the building became a pathetic picture of negligence. Due to lack of proper maintenance for over a century made the protruding porch vulnerable, the roof was leaking, iron beams had rusted and rot had set in the wooden windows and balcony doors. Despite being a Grade I heritage structure, it even faced a demolition assault in 2011, when there was an attempt to demolish the building and sell the plot to the realtors.

However, fierce protests led to the Bible Society to abandon the plan and they chalked out a restoration proposal in 2014. After that, the work started within three months after the KMC Heritage Committee approved the plan in November 2016.

Today, after going through exhaustive repairs, the Bible Society at 23 Jawaharlal Nehru Road has received a new lease of life. Apart from the compulsory repairing of the structure and a fresh coat of paint, the interiors too have been restored and a 130-seat auditorium has been created on the first floor, without making any structural changes. The Bible shop on the ground floor has been revamped and turn into a shop-cum-reading room.