GOING... GOING... GONE
All that remains are some old dilapidated buildings whose historical significance is being slowly erased by modern development.
Nothing is permanent. That’s why history is important. Though Chennai is only 384 years old, many of Madras’s ancient buildings and sites have been replaced by concrete structures. All that remains are some old dilapidated buildings whose historical significance is being slowly erased by modern development. The lesson here is to salvage whatever-little remnants of history the city has, preserve them and document their importance with every means at our disposal
Agri College
It was ironic that the centre of all urbanization – Madras – should start the first formal agricultural teaching facility. The college came up on Saidapet – which was the outskirts of the city then. At the outset, it looked like an ideal place for farming. The large Marmalong tank was on the north and the Adyar river ran on the south and the Englishmen, for long, had their farm houses here. Two agricultural graduates – Robertson and Benson – started a 300-acre experimental farm and in 15 years from 1876, it grew into a qualified Agricultural College. It demonstrated steam ploughs and harrows, cultivators, seed drills, threshing machinery, and winnowers. English bulls and ‘Saidapet breed of sheep’ as well. The city was growing too fast and space was important. Suddenly, the government took back 90% of the land and this cramped the research and learning but the college struggled along giving diplomas in agriculture till 1906. The college was shifted to Coimbatore, as the (later) Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
The Bulwark
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. With no beach, the tides of Madras used to invade the city and flood places as far as Broadway. Haviland did a detailed study of the nature of Madras tides while installing tide gauges at several points. Very reminiscent of the Dutch dykes, the Bulwark was a wall, two miles long and 14 feet thick, that kept out the high tide in those pre-Marina days. It must have been standing from the War Memorial to the Beach Station of today. The construction of the Port caused the sea to give way to the beach which made the wall redundant. Where all the stones mined in Pallavaram and trucked here by bullock carts went is a mystery! But, the Bulwark was forgotten till its foundation was discovered accidentally while digging for the subway near the Reserve Bank of India building.
Government House
As one of India’s first Government Houses, the original structure was a Garden House purchased in 1753 from a Portuguese merchant, Luis de Madeiros (who some claim gave the name to the city). A two-story classical façade with deep verandahs and irregular colonnades, it was designed by Danish astronomer-architect Goldingham, and authorised by Governor Clive. It was the home of successive Governors of Madras until Independence in 1947 when the Governor of Tamil Nadu moved to Raj Bhavan. After independence, it became the MLA’s Hostel. When the MLAs shifted to the new premises inside the fort, the building was moved to the police department and in 2008, it was knocked off to house the new Secretariat that morphed into a medical college now. Luckily, the banquet hall nearby has been spared.
Sadr court
Even while it governed the country, the East India Company’s sphere of influence was limited, and the Arcot royals retained control of the surrounding provinces. The Sadr Gardens, a colonial mansion on Kasturi Rangan Road, served as the Nawab administration’s principal court of appeal. The courts used Hindu and Islamic rules to deliver justice, and they had priests and mullahs on hand to administer the oath of truth to the witnesses. Convicts who lost their appeals were hanged from an Alwarpet corner tree, which was said to be haunted even half a century later. After the Company consolidated the legislation into one High Court, Basheer Ahmed Sayeed, a politician and educationist, who sat on the Madras Legislative Council and was a founder-member of the South Indian Education Trust (SIET), took up the property as his residence. The historic structure was recently transformed into apartments.
Spencer’s Plaza
Madras was becoming a prosperous city, and shopping became an essential aspect of people’s lives. Charles Durant and JW Spencer established Spencer on Mount Road in 1863. In 1895, it was the first department store in the Indian subcontinent — a fantastic seller of such a diverse range of goods that one was astounded by the amount and variety. The store contained over 80 separate departments, ranging from cars to candles, and was designed by WN Pogson in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. But it was an old-fashioned-hard-to-maintain building on a large plot of 10 acres. It was destroyed by fire in 1983. The current Spencer Plaza was constructed on the same site.
Mount Road’s Round Tana
A thana is a police outpost in Mughal terminology. The Mount Road’s round tana must have been a circular police station that stood close to the government estate. It stood at the intersection of four roads leading to the beach, Egmore, Mount Road and the Fort. In 1887, in honour of Queen Victoria’s jubilee celebrations, Maharajah of Vizianagaram installed a water fountain (a drinking water facility) for travelers. The 40-foot Indo Saracenic cuboid topped with a dome and well-lit with kerosene lamps became a landmark. Soon, it was surrounded by theatres, hotels and statues. World War confusions stopped its functioning and the government built a bomb shelter under this. But soon, Mount Road was getting broader and this building stood right in the busiest intersection. The corporation decided to shift it but later, it was just brought down. When the DMK came to power, Chief Minister Annadurai’s statue was installed on the spot, the day before the Tamil conference. Anna, in a show of modesty, travelled that day to Dalmia Nagar.
The Great Town Wall
Invaders like Hyder Ali avoided approaching the fort because it was adequately fortified by bastions and guns. However, they focused their attention on the Black Town, which was made up of indigenous natives who were scattered all around the fort. To discourage invasions, the British decided to construct a protective wall around Black Town, which was intended to be three-and-a-half miles long with seven gates, but it was never completed. The last stretch gave the name, Wall Tax road, because of a tax the company wanted to collect to complete the structure. When the British became the all-powerful overlords of the Carnatic, having vanquished all their opponents, the wall not only lost its significance, but was also regarded as an obstacle to the city’s progress. Except for a small piece, it was pulled down. The Corporation converted the remaining portion in 1957 to a terrace garden. Many institutions, including the Stanley Medical College, have some parts of the wall beneath.
Moore Market
The Black Town was becoming overcrowded, and the roads were clogged with hawkers. The intention was to relocate them here. The park town’s peoples park was built as an entertainment centre for Black Town. Space was often borrowed to make new structures. The Moore Market, named for George Moore, a president of the Corporation of Madras, was one such structure that arose. An acre in size, quadrangular in design, and Indo Saracenic in construction like its neighbours, this became a common man’s landmark. You could buy any machine or material here for half the price, but it was most renowned for its second-hand literature. When the Railways decided to build across the canal, it looked to the Moore Market for inspiration. According to some, the market suspiciously caught fire and was handed over to the suburban train hub. To appease the traders, the adjoining lily pond was filled with debris, and a new market was established.
Gemini Studio
SS Vasan, one of India’s early film moguls, dubbed the ‘Cecil B DeMille of India’, was known for opulent production values, huge budget sets, top-draw ensemble star casts, and the introduction of novel filming techniques. His movie-land – Gemini Studios – filmed scenes with 2,000 extras, kept two circuses for two years in his studio, and even had its own petrol station on the premises. Many people, including politicians, governors and rajahs, held land on Mount Road, close to Marmalong Lake. In 1937, film director K Subrahmanyam founded a studio, which was later burned down, and Vasan purchased it. Vasan became a movie Moghul after producing several hits, including Chandralekha. The boss, as Vasan was known, established the Gemini Studio as a landmark in Madras. Among many visitors were the Chinese Premier and the Dalai Lama. The studio was closed down by the workers’ union, and portions of it are still being litigated. From memory, the region is still known as Gemini Circle, 50 years after it was demolished.
Marmalong bridge
Crossing the Adyar River was difficult, especially during floods, and pilgrims to St Thomas Mount struggled. The richest man in Madras, an Armenian trader named Coja Petros Uscan, planned to build a bridge at that time. Though intended as a pilgrims’ bridge, Petrus Uscan, an Armenian philanthropist, built the Marmalong (Mambalam) bridge in 1726 at a cost of 30,000 pagodas (about £10,000 at the time), opening up the gateway to the south and company consolidating the presidency. On a very well-designed plaque that now stands on the Anna Salai ahead of the new bridge, the merchant indicated, within an inscription in 3 languages (Armenian, Persian, Latin): “This bridge was built for public interest by Coja Petrus Uscan, belonging to the Armenian nation, AD 1726.” In 1966, Petrus Uscan’s bridge was considered too old and dangerous and was brought down and replaced by today’s Saidapet Bridge.
What can still be saved
The Education College in Saidapet, the Gokhale Hall in George Town, and the Bharath Insurance building in Mount Road — these 3 buildings are in various stages of disrepair and litigation. They’re crumbling before the eyes of the public. Though many heritage activists have been fighting to save them and restore them to their old glory, they need the support of the denizens to win the goal. The Education College had taught some of the best teachers in the country. The Home Rule League started in Gokale Hall was the stepping stone to the freedom movement. Bharath Insurance, built in 1897, is a beautiful Indo Saracenic building next to the LIC.
