Jamsetji Tata commissioned the Taj Mahal Hotel, which opened to the public on December 16, 1903.
Tata was rejected admittance to Watson's Hotel because it was designated for Europeans, according to an oft-repeated narrative about the hotel's motivation. However, writer Charles Allen questioned the truth of this claim, claiming that Tata would be unlikely to care enough about such a snub to build a new hotel. Instead, the Taj was erected at the insistence of The Times of India's editor, who believed a hotel "worthy of Bombay" was needed, and as a "present to the city he loved" by Tata.
Sitaram Khanderao Vaidya and D. N. Mirza were the initial Indian architects, and the project was finished by an English engineer, W. A. Chambers. Khansaheb Sorabji Ruttonji Contractor, and he also planned and built the building's iconic central floating staircase. Construction cost £250,000 (£127 million in 2008 prices).
The main entrance was originally on the land-facing side, where the pool now stands.
The Taj Mahal Hotel was turned into a military hospital with 600 beds during World War I.
Work on reclaiming the land behind the hotel where the Gateway of India was built in 1924 took place at Apollo Bundar between 1915 and 1919. The Gateway of India quickly became a major tourist attraction in Bombay.
The Taj Mahal Hotel was the first in India to feature electricity, American fans, German elevators, Turkish spas, and English butlers when it opened in 1903. Blow Up, India's first discotheque, was later added to the city's first licenced bar, India's first all-day restaurant, and India's first licenced bar. It started charging Rs 13 for rooms with fans and attached bathrooms in 1903, and Rs 20 for full board. The hotel was converted into a military hospital with 600 beds during World War I.
The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel was the first structure in the country to achieve intellectual-property-right protection for its architectural design when it received an image trademark in 2017.
