Heritage building to become Chennai Metro Rail museum

The RSRM Choultry, a structure listed in the Justice Padmanabhan Committee report of heritage buildings, came under the possession of the CMRL in 2014 following a protracted legal battle, with the Madras High Court finally ruling in its favour. The heritage structure was a part of the land acquired for CMRL’s ambitious Chennai Central Square project envisioned to integrate different transport hubs. 

VK Singh, Chief General Manager (Underground Construction), CMRL, confirmed that a museum will come up at the RSRM Choultry premises. “This showcases the Metro Rail’s introduction in the city, by displaying construction procedures, parts of tunnel boring and all the techniques that were employed in the process of setting up this transit option. However, this will take time to materialise,” he added. 

Singh also added that the rundown condition of the building required massive restoration, which was undertaken by the CMRL. “The condition of the building was bad. We restored it with the heritage experts on board,” said the CGM. 

The choultry was constructed in 1888 by Raja Sir Savalai Ramaswami Mudaliar, a philanthropist and businessman, who became the first Sheriff of Chennai. Historian V Sriram said that the choultry was built for travellers at a time when hotels didn’t exist. “RSRM build this choultry for the public,” he added. 

However, the historian opined that turning it into a museum is the “worst solution”. “Every heritage building can be creatively readapted. The choultry can be turned into a Metro Station or even a ticketing centre. But turning it into a museum will mean that the number of people visiting the premises will drop over the years, resulting in poor maintenance of the building, which will then become dilapidated. Using this as an excuse, it will eventually be demolished,” warned Sriram.