A British Harbour Engineer by name Sir Robert Bristow arrived Cochin under the instructions of Lord Willingdon with a mission to construct an approach channel from the deep sea to the inner harbour of Cochin. He joined the services of the Madras government at the age of 39, and came to Kochi on 13 April 1920.

For the next twenty one years, he was involved with the construction of the port and succeeded in transforming Kochi into one of the safest harbours in the peninsula reclaiming 3.2 km² of land, now called the Willingdon Island, the heart of Kochi…

On August 11 – 1935, Bristow proudly proclaimed to the world through the BBC: I now live on a large Island made from the bottom of the sea, called Willingdon Island. From the upper floor of my house, I look down on one of the finest harbour in the East and perhaps the most beautiful port in the world…

Bristow returned to England on April 13, 1941 and died in September 1966 at the age of 85.

The recreation room of the MNC was deservingly named after this architect of modern Kochi..

“Bristow Lounge”