Town is a place I always like going to. I probably get that trait from my mother, whose idea of relaxing is to get on to a bus, go to Town and then just walk down the narrow streets there. Of late, she has got into this habit of borrowing any stranger’s cellphone, calling me irrespective of where I am or what I am doing and asking about the history of any random building that takes her fancy. Her father was another strong believer in the maxim that shopping had to be done only in Town.
I go to Town for its history. I like soaking in its sheer wealth of heritage, though most of it has gone to seed. When Karthik Bhatt does the honour of accompanying me on these jaunts, it is an added pleasure. For he has double my enthusiasm.
A couple of Saturdays ago we set out to visit the Kalikambal Temple and then to photograph for my weekly column in The Hindu, the Surajmal building which is now Saravana Bhavan. En route, I managed to capture these heritage structures on Lingi Chetty, Errabalu Chetty, Thambu Chetty, Broadway, Post Office Street and NSC Bose Road. I dont know how long these will last. So enjoy them at least in pics.
This is all that remains of a long stretch of Indo Saracenic buildings that housed the MCC till the 1930s. The campus stretched from Parry’s Corner to Anderson Street. The Anderson Church, also part of the campus, still survives.
Look at those pilasters topped by Corinthian capitals. What about that jewel of a verandah?
I love the way the windows double up as verandahs with ornate wooden railings.
The first floor has semi-circular arches with windows, alternating with Corinthian capitals over pilasters. The second floor was obviously one room and a long verandah on the side. The latter was converted into a room by putting up windows. Note the floral garland done in plaster above the verandah. The terrace largely repeats the same pattern that once formed the railing for the second floor balcony.
The profusion of wooden windows and the patterns on them is amazing.
This is my favourite and a whole thesis can be written on its architecture and history. This was Dr U Rama Rau‘s clinic and collateral members of the same lineage still practise as doctors from here.
In Venkatachala Vilas,the plaster work of rays is pure art deco while the rest is classical.
I am sure those of us who get to see all this are the last few lucky ones. Soon these will all be replaced by a warren of glass-fronted ugly shops or flats. Sure, we have to change. But can we at least retain some elements of the past?
As a child growing up in North Madras (Thiruvottriyur) George Town was a central part to any travel outside home. Your write up brings up beautiful memories of walking up and down the entire stretch from Esplanade to Kuralagam, to the mint police station, and beyond, past MA Jacobs to the only decent bookstore near the Raja Annamalai mandram, the CLS bookshop. My mother herself an avid book lover, took us (my sister Sita) along on many a Saturday to the bookshop where we would spend ample time browsing through books and then buy an Amar Chitra Katha or two for the time spent there. Our book purchases will usually be restricted to Madras Book fair bargain book stalls unlike these days. We would usually have lunch at the Ramakrishna Lunch Home opposite the High Court or at Hari Om Bhavan some where around Mint Street followed by buying Rasa gollas and other bengali sweets at Kakada Ramprasad. Aavin flavoured milk before taking the bus home ( in front of the Kuralagam building) was also a tradition. With Appa we’d never travelled by bus. He had an Enfield bullet which he had assembled when he was an intern at the Enfield factory. It would constantly require his attention or rather the mechanic’s and so any trip to town would include a few hours spent at the mechanic shop close to Clive Battery. This gave us pleanty of time to roam around. The huge imposing buildings on first Line Beach Road would fill us with awe every time we pass them. In our 9th and 10th grades when we were into colonial history we could relive the history we read just as we felt in our middle school years that we had plunged back to chola era whenever we visited Mayavaram and Mudikondan in the then Tanjavore dt. Especially the thrill of seeing the Cholan buses in the Mayavaram Tiruvarur route made us feel so proud to be cholas the great conquerors. Somehow being in Chennai didn’t arouse the Pallava belonging in me, probably because we never read much on Pallava history then.
anyway, i just rambled on and on, thanks, it was nice to go back in time.
Padma
Enjoyed this Sriram. Would love to come along on one of these jaunts!
I read with interest and some nostalgia the article on the grand old buildings of Georgetown. I practised medicine there for several years until my departure to UK but still have fond memories of the area and its fascinating bylanes. I remember trudging up and down many of the old buildings there including the Badruddin building. Dr U Rama Rau( my great grandfather) practised at 144( now 299) Thambu Chetty Street at the junction with Errabalu Chetty street opposite Karnataka Bank. The building pictured is 112 Thambu Chetty Street belonging to another eminent family of physicians Dr U Venkat Rau,his son Dr Srinivasa Rau and grandson Dr Rama Rau. Two other families who have practised there for nearly a hundred years are the Dr B Venkat Rao family at 85 Broadway and the clan of Dr U L Narayana Rao on Mint Street.
Dear Sir
Many thanks for your comments and clarifications. Really appreciate it.
Regards
Sriram V
When my sibling and I were kids, my parents used to take us all the way from South Chennai to Mint street to Dr. U L Narayana Rao’s clinic whenever we fell sick. Despite the sickness, I still have a lot of good memories from Mint street, and my childhood would be incomplete without them. I have always marveled at all the beautiful buildings and busy happening nature of narrow lanes of North Chennai. It’s great to know that this place has such rich heritage. Thank you , Sriram sir and Dr. U Rammohan Rau, for bringing back such wonderful memories.