The Hindu’s boardroom witnessed a book release earlier this week. It was a slim volume titled Chennai Contemporary Architecture, A Guide, written by A. Srivathsan and Fiona Evangeline S. The book was brought out by The Hindu Group of Publications and the Chennai Architecture Foundation. Receiving the first copy, I could not help reflecting on how this book brings us up to date on the city’s buildings.
In his speech, Srivathsan reflected on how lucky Madras/Chennai has been in its chroniclers and historians, right from the 19th century. He opined that, outside London, this is probably the only city with so much documentation of its past. I am not so sure about that. But certainly, between J. Talboys Wheeler, H.D. Love, Glynn Barlow, N.S. Ramaswami and S. Muthiah, the city has been well served.
Documenting Chennai’s Architectural Heritage
As I perused Srivathsan’s book, I realised that the city has a good corpus of writing on architecture too. The primer was always Splendours of the Raj by Philip Davies (John Murray, London, 1985), closely followed by Stones of the Empire by Jan Morris (OUP, London, 1983). I am aware that the second book came out earlier, but I still prefer dipping into Davies.
A lesser-known work is Palaces of the Raj, Magnificence and Misery of the Lord Sahibs by Mark Bence-Jones (Allen & Unwin, London, 1973). It is a masterly survey of Government Houses in India. Among those covered, it is significant that Madras is the only one to have demolished its lovely Government House on Government (Omandurar) Estate. It made way for the short-lived Assembly, which, as a hospital, has enjoyed a longer existence.
All the above are books that span India, so Madras gets just a chapter, invariably the first. But in the 1970s and 1980s, when colonial architecture was dismissed as inconsequential, these books helped highlight what was conservation-worthy. Thereafter, we had a long hiatus. It ended when the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) commissioned K. Kalpana and Frank Schiffer to write Madras, The Architectural Heritage.
Published by INTACH in 2003, this book reflects not only the authors’ voices but also those of S. Muthiah, Tara Murali and Theodore Baskaran. It remains the most masterly survey of colonial architecture in the city.
From Indo-Saracenic to Modernism
Another book dealing with Madras in this context is Shanti Jayewardene Pillai’s Imperial Conversations, Indo-Britons and the Architecture of South India (Yoda Press, New Delhi, 2006). It concerns itself with the rise of the Indo-Saracenic style in the city and how it grew into an imperial idiom. The author dwells at length on how the style did not spring fully formed from British architects’ minds, as Athene did from Zeus. Rather, it emerged through long years of collaboration with Indian artisans. The book exposes very well how the English eventually hijacked the style and claimed all the credit for it.
Moving on to Art Deco, Brutalist and Modernist styles of the interwar years and the period following Independence, we have Dr. K.R. Sitalakshmi’s PhD thesis, Architecture of Indian Modernity: The Case of Madras (Palaniappa Bros, Chennai, 2015). Earlier books gave us a surfeit of information on Chisholm, Irwin, Stephen and others. It is in this study that architects such as Prynne, Abbot & Davis, L.M. Chitale, R.R. Sarma, Kiffin Ray Peterson and F.B. Pithavadian come into their own.
Chennai’s Contemporary Architecture
Coming to Srivathsan, he was among the first to identify and study a short-lived attempt to create a Dravidian style of architecture in the city. His work appeared in the scholarly compilation Chennai, Not Madras: Perspectives on the City (Marg, New Delhi, 2006). Since then, while writing on other subjects and pursuing his busy academic career, Srivathsan has continued studying Chennai’s architecture in the modern era, particularly during the period following economic liberalisation.
It has been fashionable to dismiss all this as “all steel, glass and concrete”. But this is where Srivathsan differs. In his masterly survey, presented by way of an introduction, he argues that Indian architecture in the post-Independence period is not confined to what was done along the Ahmedabad-Bombay-Delhi axis. Plenty of good work was created elsewhere too. He not only highlights outstanding designs in the city but also documents what was done here in terms of structural elements, climate control and landscape. Certainly, after reading this book, it will be impossible to trash the new constructions.
The book is divided into South, East, Central and West, taking readers through the buildings and precincts that have come up in each zone. North is missing. I can confidently predict that it will feature in the next edition, given the ongoing developments. But then, they need to merit inclusion.
This article appeared in The Hindu–https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/documenting-chennais-architecture/article71522812.ece
My book, Chennai, A Biography can be ordered–https://pastforward.in/cart/