David Sassoon Library and Reading Room

The David Sassoon Library and Reading Room is a yellow, basalt stone building with pointed Gothic arches that stand out against the grey skyline of Kala Ghoda. It holds one of the city's oldest collections, founded in eighteen seventy with a massive donation from the Baghdadi Jewish philanthropist David Sassoon. During the construction, the architect James Campbell had to abandon his original design because the foundation could not support the heavy spire he planned. He replaced it with the current square reading room.