We will begin our walk of this historical area just outside Girish Park. Girish Park at the crossing of Central or Chittaranjan Avenue and Vivekanadna Road is a well-known Kolkata locality as it leads towards deep north on one hand, and east Kolkata and Salt Lake, on the other. The park is named after the great dramatist, novelist, theatre director and actor, Girish Chandra Ghosh (1844-1912) who is known as the Father of Bengali Theatre.

The house inside belongs to the Jorasanko Daw family. It is 200-year-old. This is definitely the most theatrical thakurdalan in north Kolkata with small balconies rising above the courtyard on both sides as in an opera house.

The three famous sweet shops - Bhim Chandra Nag, Nepal Chandra Haluikar and Surendranath De. All, save Nepal Chandra Haluikar, are famous for various Bengali sweets, notably sandesh and other chhena or cottage cheese products for which the city is famous.

Vaikunthanath temple was constructed in early 1960s by the Bangars. Its facade looks like marble but those figures on the gopuram were all modelled with cement by an artisan from Rajasthan. The surface was later painted white to resemble marble. The story of Mahabharata is narrated here.  The buildings behind the sanctum sanctorum were designed by Fatik Ch Guin (1900- 1985) of N. Guin & Co of Birla Science Museum fame.

The Disneyland Tagore Castle at 26 Prasanna Kumar Tagore Street looks like it was imported from Scotland. All that is left of the original structure are its turrets, the tallest one being a clock tower that looks like it has been skinned.

Its a historic palace once owned by a prominent local family, with terraces & a huge inner courtyard.

Mahatma & Co was established by Radhabinod Roy who served prescriptions meant for Rabindranath Tagore till the time of his death on August 4, 1941.

The Thakurbaris not the most showy palace in this area of north Calcutta, but it has a mark of distinction of its own, even though that is not visible in its entirety today. This is the family seat of the Tagore clan. Rabindranath was born here on May 7, 1861 and he died here in 1941. The building had been taken over by the state government during Tagore’s birth centenary celebrations in 1961, but only after the section of the house (Baithak-khanabari at 5 Dwarkanath Tagore Lane) in which the two famous nephews of Rabindranath — Gaganendranath and Abanindranth — resided had been pulled down. At the entrance is a lawn where celebrations are held occasionally. The original building was founded in 1784. Dwarkanath used to host his grand dinner parties in Baithak- khanabari. Sadly, what was once Rabindranath’s realm is in a pitiable state now even though the government has been more than generous with funds. The museum continues to attract hundreds of visitors everyday from all over the country and the world.