Chandrakant Patel designed the building now known as Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers, or the BSE building, on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Its defining move is a pair of curved, unequal wings organized around a central service core—a plan that shaped both how the exchange worked and how the tower was built.
Who designed the Bombay Stock Exchange building?
Architect Chandrakant Patel designed the BSE tower. The project was championed by Phiroze Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy, then chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange, and the completed building commemorates him as Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Bijoy Jain / Studio Mumbai: Breath of an Architect | $51.86 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
|
DK Top 10 Mumbai (Pocket Travel Guide) | $14.00 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
|
Timeless Mumbai: A Visual Journey Through Mumbai's Heritage | $70.74 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
|
Studio Mumbai: Praxis | $48.21 | Buy on Amazon |
| 5 |
|
STUDIO MUMBAI (Spanish and English Edition) | $124.24 | Buy on Amazon |
Architect and former colleague Mustansir Dalvi’s 2025 retrospective describes Patel as a Sir JJ College of Architecture graduate who attended the 1958 International Congress of Architects in Moscow as India’s only representative, then worked for Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. Patel later established Architectural Research Unit. Dalvi presents him as a modernist attentive to function, material and geometry, and recalls his resistance to right angles. That is a colleague’s characterization, not a complete measure of Patel’s work.
The BSE tower became Patel’s best-known project. Before it, he worked on Usha Kiran in Tardeo, which Dalvi says was Mumbai’s tallest building until Jeejeebhoy Tower surpassed it.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
Why the tower has two curved wings
Dalvi writes that the exchange conceived the project in 1969 to replace its older Dalal Street premises with a modern tower and trading hall. Patel presented a model to the governing board, which approved the design. The plan translated the exchange’s organization into the building’s form: brokers and their offices occupied two wings, while shared services sat in the middle.
The wings form non-concentric arcs, and their floor areas vary. A structural core joins them and houses elevators, toilets and other services. Patel explained the arrangement in his 2015 book 4th Dimension Architecture, in text reproduced by The Indian Express: “The idea behind the design of the Stock Exchange was that the two wings would house all the brokers and their offices, while all the services, other facilities would be in the central core.” He added that the services would be accessible from the corridor by the foyer.
The perimeter structure helped make the façade possible. Thin steel mullions—called “matchstick columns” by Patel, according to Dalvi—let the floor façades avoid structural restraints and form continuous ribbon windows. The design’s distinctive appearance follows from this separation of the perimeter glazing from the central service structure.
How Patel and engineer Kamal Hadkar built it
Dalvi’s 2025 account describes the tower as 29 storeys, with a reinforced-cement-concrete core about 300 feet high. The core rose by slip-form construction: concrete was poured into moving formwork that was lifted as the work advanced. Structural engineer Kamal Hadkar, who collaborated with Patel, told The Indian Express in 2019 that the team managed about 11 feet of core construction per day using jacks to move the form. That rate is Hadkar’s reported account of the project, not a general construction benchmark.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe wings used an early form of exterior glass curtain wall, while diaphragm walls were used for the basements, according to Dalvi. The construction approach paired a rising concrete core with lighter glazed wings, reflecting the plan’s division between central services and broker offices.
The trading hall beneath the tower
The project’s second phase included a trading hall 100 feet in diameter, according to Hadkar as quoted by The Indian Express in 2019. He described its form as “an inverted basket” with a skylight. The newspaper also quotes architect and professor Mustansir Dalvi on the constrained urban site, the three-floor podium and the canopy.
Rank #4
Completion, delay and a change in the exchange’s work
The tower was completed in 1980, according to The Indian Express and Dalvi’s retrospective. Dalvi attributes work stoppages partly to political and legal matters, including Navy objections that the building would overlook dockyards.
The purpose-built trading hall was designed for in-person broking. Dalvi says BSE trading moved online on March 14, 1995, leaving the newly completed hall quiet. The building’s physical form remained after the trading practices that had shaped its original program changed.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Best Value
Dalvi’s retrospective says the tower remained Mumbai’s tallest until around the turn of the millennium; this is his qualified account of its earlier standing, not a statement of its current height ranking. The sources cited here do not establish current tenant arrangements, visitor access rules or conservation status.
Further reading
For Patel’s own account of the design, 4th Dimension Architecture (2015) is cited by The Indian Express and used for project material in Dalvi’s 2025 retrospective.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
