Entry to the St. Thomas Church is from the west (seen on the right). Walls on both sides of the entrance lobby are covered in memorials. The antechamber (seen in the center) is used as the choir room. Above the choir room door hangs an old photograph of the Church Gate, which was demolished along with the ramparts of Bombay Fort in the mid-1860s.
The church in the name Churchgate refers to the 300-year-old St Thomas’ Church (now Cathedral). The ‘gate’ comes from the time when Bombay was protected by a Fort. The walled city had three gates, and the western gate was located close to the St. Thomas Church, hence Churchgate. Later when the railways were built, the name Churchgate was applied to the nearby railway station, as did the surrounding neighborhood.