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Hamilton Studios

@hamiltonstudios1928

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Incepted In 1928
Founded By Ranjit Madhavji, Now Managed By Ajita Madhavji
Ballard Estate, Bombay, India
[email protected]
02222610485

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Thresholds and partitions at Hamilton Studios.

One of the most creative interventions was connecting the Yellow Studio Room to the Blue Reception Room. The geometry was carefully completed and corrected, with a sliding-folding partition introduced and infilled with diamond-textured glass—an abstract response to the pixels of a photograph.

The threshold then becomes more than a partition: from either side, it frames the space like a picture-perfect shot.

Come to Hamilton and experience it in person. The photograph really doesn’t do it justice.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo Credits - Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects taken in Hamilton Studios by @hamiltonstudios1928

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20 days ago

THE YELLOW ROOM

A threshold between movement and gathering.
Neither merely a corridor nor a room of pause, the Yellow Room forms the connective heart of Hamilton Studios—leading into its common spaces and the activities that bring them alive.

Its restoration retains the original rhythm of the wall panelling, arched window and chequered floor, while a restrained palette of warm yellow and white allows light to travel through the space. The services remain visible—quietly acknowledging the building’s evolving life rather than concealing it.

Here, architecture becomes a frame for passage, encounter and exchange: a space one moves through, yet one that invites a moment of pause.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo Credits - Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 months ago

THE BLUE ROOM — HAMILTON STUDIOS

Some rooms remember more than others.

For decades, this was the reception room at Hamilton Studios — a place of waiting, conversation and anticipation before stepping in front of the camera. Its walls carried photographs, its tables gathered prints and papers, and generations of visitors sat on the familiar dark wooden chairs before their portrait was made.

When we first encountered the room, very little had truly disappeared. It had simply accumulated — photographs over photographs, objects over objects, and the quiet traces of a studio that had continued working since 1928.

The refurbishment began with looking closely.

The old wall panelling was retained and repaired. The furniture was conserved and returned to the room. The patterned stone floor, timber windows, cabinets and objects that belonged to Hamilton remained part of its everyday life.

What changed was the way the room could be read.

The earlier green gave way to a pale Hamilton blue; the walls were quietened, the lighting recalibrated, and selected photographs were brought together as compositions rather than decoration. Nothing was made to look artificially old, nor was the room stripped of the imperfections that revealed its age.

At its centre, the table and chairs remain.

Around them, the room continues to do what it always did — receive people, hold photographs, tell stories and prepare someone for that one moment in front of the lens.

A room from 1928, still at work.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo Credits - Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects taken in Hamilton Studios by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 months ago

ONE SHOT

Hamilton Studios became one of the most important learning grounds for our young practice.

At the heart of its story is Sir Ranjit Madhavji, the pioneering force behind Hamilton Studios, whose camera became witness to a changing India.

Across generations, Hamilton did more than make portraits. It quietly assembled a visual memory of a country and its people—picture by picture, portrait by portrait, legend by legend.

To work within such a legacy taught us that conservation is not always about returning a building to a particular moment in its past.

Sometimes it is about learning how to see what is already there.

To observe before intervening.
To reveal without overpowering.
To introduce the new without losing sight of the old.

We were not trying to recreate Hamilton Studios of 1928. We were looking for a way for its character, memory and photographic legacy to remain visible within a working studio of the present.

A lesson that has stayed with Five Cross Architects ever since:

Conservation begins with learning how to see.

And perhaps, in photography as in architecture, sometimes you only get one shot.

Make it a sure shot.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo credits : Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects taken in Hamilton Studios by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 months ago

THROUGH THE LENS

At Hamilton Studios, photography became a way of thinking about architecture.

Guided by the photographic experiments and extraordinary eye of Ajita Madhavji, we began looking at the building as a photographer might:

Light and shadow.
Frame and depth.
Foreground and background.
Exposure and restraint.

What should remain in focus?
What should quietly recede?
What deserves to be revealed—and what is best left untouched?

Old surfaces were retained alongside new interventions. Light became material. Openings became frames. Details were composed rather than decorated.

Restoration and refurbishment gradually came together within the same frame.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo Credits - Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects taken in Hamilton Studios by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 months ago

HAMILTON STUDIO | 1928

WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY DAY 2026

Established in 1928, Hamilton Studios has spent nearly a century looking at the world through a lens.

For Five Cross Architects, it became one of our earliest works—and one of our most formative.

When we began working with Hamilton Studios, the question was never simply how to restore an old photographic studio. It was how to intervene in a place whose very identity had been shaped by light, portraiture, composition and memory for nearly a century.

Partially completed in 2025, the project became an exercise in understanding what it means to work with an institution where the building itself is part of the archive.

Hamilton Studios, Mumbai
Est. 1928 | Restoration + Refurbishment | Five Cross Architects

Photo Credits - Hamilton Studios and Five Cross Architects by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 months ago

Inside the stone corridors of Ballard Estate stands Hamilton Studios, a nearly century-old portrait studio that has quietly documented generations of Mumbai. Founded in 1928 and located in the historic E.D. Sassoon Building, the studio is now run by Ajita Madhavji, who carries forward the legacy of her father, veteran photographer Ranjit Madhavji. The space still reflects an earlier era, with simple backdrops and traditional studio lights, where every portrait is carefully prepared rather than rushed. Ajita focuses on capturing people naturally, often taking time to perfect the lighting, posture and expression before clicking a single frame. The studio is known for the iconic portrait of B. R. Ambedkar photographed by Ranjit Madhavji, which continues to hang in government offices across India. With an archive of over six lakh negatives, including early images of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Hamilton Studios remains a timeless witness to the city’s evolving history. taken in Mumbai - मुंबई by @hamiltonstudios1928

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7 months ago

by @hamiltonstudios1928

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2 years ago

Posted @withregram • @lbb.mumbai Having clicked Maharajas of Udaipur to even B. R. Ambedkar, this iconic photo studio dates back to 1928! 😧

Head to the link in bio for more details (because it can even be rented out for shoots!) 🔗

#LBB #LBBMumbai #mumbaikar #mumbaidiaries #mumbaicity #photostudio #mumbaistudio by @hamiltonstudios1928

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4 years ago

Our first global archival project is now live. Grateful, excited and humbled that a mammoth expedition has finally culminated into one of our most memorable moments of recent times. This milestone feat wouldn't haven't possible without the dedicated support extended by @photo_miners @britishlibrary @covuni #hamiltonstudiosgoesglobal #archive #photography by @hamiltonstudios1928

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4 years ago

Ushering in the new year with the vibrant portrait of a celebrated tarot card reader and pyschic
Photograph taken at the Hamilton Studios, Bombay.
#hamiltonstudios #studio #photography #spirituality #tarotreading #occult #mystic by @hamiltonstudios1928

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4 years ago

Gracias @studionewslive #lucknow

#entrepreneur #photography #press #instalike #instagood #photooftheday #igers #instafollow #picoftheday by @hamiltonstudios1928

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4 years ago