The architects of Madras

“Without an architecture of our own, we have no soul of our own civilization,” says architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The architecture of a city labels its slot in civilisation other than reminding its residents of their own hoary history. Architecture styles in the Madras city ranged from Dravidian to Vijayanagara, colonial to Islamic, Indo-Saracenic, Gothic and Art Deco.

In the course of the Madras city’s journey from a sandy strip of beach land to a megapolis, a steady stream of architects, some unknown, and others flashing their degrees from distinguished architectural colleges, a few engineers and at least one doctor have by etching its cityscape saved it from the medieval barbarity of simplifying habitation and gave the city an architectural soul. In the long list of these architects, of recent, Madras had Pritzker prize winner, Iraqi-born Briton Zaha Hadid designing a huge commercial complex in the city as well.

But what about the architects themselves? Over the centuries, the architects who led the fledgling city by its hands as it marched along in time, had very colourful histories as well.

The oldest man-made structure in Madras city is a Pallava cave of the 8th century circa, across the airport, now concretised beyond recognition and used as a dargah. Of course, many nameless architects created countless temples in what was then Puliyur or Puzhal Kottam of Jayamkonda Cholamandalam. The one lucky to have his name remembered is Veera Chozha Ravi Thachan whose name is engraved in Tiruvottiyur temple (10th-century edict).

In colonial times, there was just a slender line between engineers and architects and the terms were often used interchangeably. The earliest structures were obviously walls on which depended the survival of the city and had to be planned well.

Benfield, an engineer known for his protective walls of the Fort and Black Town became a financier, lent money at hideous rates of interest to the Nawab of Arcot and bankrupted him eventually. Only one part of the wall around the Black Town survives today, what is maintained as the terrace garden near Royapuram.

The largest structure after the Fort itself was the Bulwark with which engineer De Havilland saved the nascent city from the ruthless Bay of Bengal which seemed indignant at a habitation being built on its shores. It was a wall, two miles long and 14 feet thick, that kept out the high tide in those pre-Marina days. De Havilland with another engineer would build the George Cathedral for Europeans settled far from the Fort. Ironically, his family was the first to use it, with his wife being burial number one in the church graveyard.

Madras took its architecture rather seriously and had a consulting architect as early as in 1860 — one who had direct access to the Governor (The first American college for architects would start only in 1868, and in India would wait till 1913). The British had taken over from the company and unfaltering in their urge to give Madras an architectural identity, they held perhaps the earliest competition endowed with prize money, to design the Presidency College. Many architects vied for the first time and the clear winner was Scotsman Chisholm. Luckily for Madras, he was already a government employee and a simple transfer enabled him to change the face of Madras.

The Indo-Saracenic architecture emerged simultaneously in many places and from the skilful hands of several architects. But Chisholm should be credited with the biggest impetus this style would ever have and Madras till now has the generous share of Indo-Saracenic buildings with elements of Muslim, Hindu and colonial in a mélange. Chisholm would later take over the design of the largest dwelling in India, the Baroda Lakshmi Vilas Palace (it was four times the size of the Buckingham Palace) when its first architect committed suicide, reportedly due to a fault he discovered in his own designs.

While engineers and architects competed for the few projects available in Madras, others decided they were quite well equipped to design buildings as well. GG Gifford, Surgeon-General who would famously contribute the list of Tamil names of diseases to the first Tamil lexicon, names that are still used today, would also design the maternity hospital in Egmore. Embarrassingly though, the portly and dignified building was actually modelled on a part of the female anatomy the doctor was treating.

Post-Independence, parallel to a resurgence of national pride, architectural aspirations grew as well. Madras ambitiously planned to have the tallest building in the country. Moulin and Brown, the British designers, were by specialisation cemetery architects. They also had just won the competition to design the AIIMS in Delhi, but walked out rather than pursue it. Coincidentally, they also exited the LIC project in Madras, letting Madras architect Chitale finish it. For two years, the LIC building, though just a concrete cuboid, created a smugness for the citizens as it stood a head above any other building in India.

Architects from across the country helped design landmarks in the city. Piloo Mody who won the Federation Internationale de la Precontrainte accolade for prestressed buildings with his tree-like design for ECC in Ramapuram was a busy man in other work as well and the clients first felt he wouldn’t have time to do the building. Piloo wrote the first biography of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, his schoolmate in Bombay and Berkeley. He would be instrumental in forming the main Indian opposition Swatantra Party to challenge the Nehruvian might. He would serve a jail term during Emergency, mainly because his wisecracks in Parliament irritated Indira Gandhi.

The Anna Nagar tower, one of the most recognised structures of the city for the international expo of 1968, was conceived by Yahya Merchant, who also designed Jinnah Mausoleum in Karachi.

Homegrown architects like RR Sharma (RBI building), Pithavadian (Chepauk Stadium) and Chitale have changed the cityscape to a great extent.

Laxman Mahadeo Chitale was one of the earliest Indians to start an architectural firm and was perhaps the only man to occupy the post of regional camouflage officer when in the great war, the British used him to shroud landmarks of the city from roving Japanese bombers. With four years of hunting and just one day of bombing in the World War, the saving of Madras from dire consequences could be attributed to Chitale.

Standing up to the occasion and remembering the responsibility their illustrious predecessors have bequeathed them, hundreds of Madras-born architects strive to do the same these days — amending the cityscape to suit the changing times. One can visualise the layers of history just by seeing the buildings of this city and realise how thankful we need to be to the architects who have graced this city with their skills.