Vishrambaug Wada

A three-storey mansion of 1807, built for two lakh rupees as the favourite residence of Bajirao II, the last Peshwa - the hereditary chief minister of the Maratha state - and still standing in the middle of a working shopping street. The carved teak canopy over the entrance and the slender suru-shaped wooden pillars are the reason to stop: this is the finest surviving wada, the courtyard house of Maratha nobility, left in the city. Three courtyards spread over 20,000 sq ft; inside are a small Peshwa-era display and a cultural hall, with restoration going on in phases. Sunday heritage walks through the old city usually end here.

The finest surviving Peshwa-era wooden wada, standing on a living shopping street