AD India Jan-Feb 2026
This feature was published in Architectural Digest Jan-Feb 2026 issue. Read it here.
AD100 architect, Shruti Jalan in her living room. The Wedgwood blue walls of the living room are offset by splashes of red—a crimson carpet, a handcrafted Demuro Das sofa cast in a brass mould and drenched in coral blush, and a mesmerising Pandit Khairnar painting above it.
Perched on a quiet boulevard that winds gently up a hill in South Mumbai stands a graceful art deco building constructed in the late 1930s. Within one of its sprawling apartments lives architect Shruti Jalan with her husband and son. They moved in a year ago. Jalan was immediately taken by its generous size, floor-to-ceiling windows and the quietude it offered, despite being in the midst of bustling Breach Candy. “It was built on a hill, which was once the site of an old lighthouse,” she says. Its elevation naturally muffles the city’s noise, while the residence’s original 18-inch walls add to the hush. “It’s like a cocoon,” she continues. “At any point of the day, you’ll only hear birds”—barbets and golden orioles abound.
A black stone Nandi greets you at the entrance—a gift from Mahendra Doshi’s custodian, Chiki Doshi—alongside an antique French stand. The hallway serves as a striking visual anchor: a warm wooden floor runs like a spine through the residence, with three spacious rooms unfolding on either side. Sunlight pours in, spilling across the soaring 12-foot ceilings and tracing the softly rounded curves with an afternoon glow.
Courtesy: Architectural Digest India
A centre table anchors the dining room, its off-white Brazilian quartz surface resting on rounded art deco legs reputed to be carved from a single block of wood. Indo-Portuguese candle stands from the 1850s sourced from a Goan church sit atop. Wine-red Italian leather Niels Møller chairs surround the dining table. The space is completed by a collection of Mediterranean amphoras and black-glazed Chinese ginger jars, arranged on twin cabinets that flank a large floating mirror.
The apartment’s cantilevered balcony opens out to a lush canopy of green. The curvilinear veranda has a wooden-tiled flooring and overlooks a gulmohar tree. One of her favourite nooks, Jalan often lingers here, while savouring her coffee and the views that stretch beyond.
