More than meets the eye

The building itself looks quite old; certainly goes back somewhere between 80 and 100 years, with its first floor verandah and the sloping roof with the central gable reflecting the style of those times. Rather uniquely for buildings of that vintage, this one has been painted white, rather than the brick-red that one normally associates with these buildings.

Lawrence & Mayo is older, still. Over 130 years old, the firm was set up by these two gentlemen, who had by then set up their stores over Europe and parts of Asia, too. Lawrence & Mayo in India today employes over 450 people in their branches across 11 cities in India. Though the brand is known in the public eye for their spectacle lenses and frames, they are diversified into various other kinds of equipment, including those for surveying and material testing.

Though I can't swear to it, it seems to me that this branch has remained in its current location for a long while, now. Even though it is old, it is not the first Lawrence & Mayo showroom in the country - that honour goes to Kolkata - but it looks like it must have been among the earliest of them!