The David Sassoon Library and Reading Room was initially established as the Mechanics’ Institute in 1847, in order to train professional workers for the Mint and Government Dockyard. The idea for a library and a technical institute, located at the center of Fort area was conceived in 1863 by David Sassoon, the famous Baghdadi Jewish merchant, known as the Rothschild of the East. Architects David E. Gostling, John Campbell and Colonel John Augustus Fuller, designed the new building in the Venetian Gothic style.

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Governor Sir Bartle Frere laid the corner stone in 1867 and the inauguration ceremony took place in 1870, by Governor Sir Seymour Fitzgerald. Above the entrance, a bas-relief portrait of David Sassoon is carved in marble, designed and sculpted by John Lockwood Kipling, father of the famous poet and author, Rudyard. Placed at the rear side of the portico is a large marble statue of Sassoon, sculpted by the well-known British sculptor Thomas Woolner. Hovering over the top of the building is a decorative Clock Tower, donated by his son, Albert Sassoon, in 1873. The building today is a landmark and one of the iconic gems in the city of Mumbai.