The Heritage Buildings of NSC Bose Road - Chennai, South India

Chennai, one of the important South India cities, has a lot of historically important sites and ancient temples. The city which was formed by the Britishers has many heritage buildings of British period. The current Sowcarpet/Parry corner area was the first settlement of British in Chennai (the erstwhile Madras) city. Due to this reason, you can find a lot of important heritage sites in this area. Let me talk about few heritage sites located in NSC Bose Road of Parrys/Sowcarpet area.

The area is called as Parrys or Parrys corner due to Parry's building located at the intersection of NSC Bose Road and North Beach Road. Parry's building is one of the major landmarks of Chennai city for the past 250+ years. The building is the corporate headquarters of the EID Parry Company, which was named after Thomas Parry. He was the Welsh merchant who set up the EID Parry Company in 1787. Even today Parry's building is considered as one of the main land marks of the city and also the heritage building.

The long, open, level area, next to seaside or riverside, where people can walk is called as Esplanade. The Esplanades became popular during the British period. Chennai also had Esplanade. The boundary of Esplanade is a heritage symbol which stands near the Parry's building. It was built in 1773 AD.

The Madras High Court is one of the greatest landmarks of Chennai city. Even though Madras was renamed as Chennai, the High Court is still called as Madras High Court. The Madras High Court was built in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture under the guidance of the famous architect Henry Irwin in the year of 1892 AD. The Madras High Court, along with the High Courts of Kolkata and Mumbai, are the only three High Courts in India which were started by the British. This is arguably the second largest judicial complex in the world. This is located at NSC Bose Road diagonally opposite to Parry's corner building.

Pachiappa's College is one of the important colleges in Chennai city. It is currently located at Poonamallee High Road. However, only few would know that this is one of the oldest educational institutions of Chennai city. It was the first Hindu educational institute in South India, which was not funded by the British. It was built in 1842 by the fund of the trust of Pachiappan Mudaliar. It gained the college status in 1889. Only Hindus were admitted in the institute till 1947. The original building of Pachiappan educational trust is located at NSC Bose Road in Sowcarpet area of Chennai. Today, this building merely has the Pachiappan school as the college moved to Poonamallee High Road.

The Madras Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was started by David McConaughy during 1890s at NSC Bose Road in Chennai. It is one of the rare heritage buildings of Chennai city.

King George V of England joined as an ordinary cadet in the Royal Navy and later rose to the level of its Admiral. His coronation took place in 22nd June 1911. You can find the statue of King George, one of the important statues of British period, near Flower Bazaar Police Station.

Happy travelling.

Fast Facts:
Site Name: Heritage buildings of NSC Bose Road
Site Type: Heritage Buildings
Location: Chennai city, Tamil Nadu state, India 
Highlights: British heritage sites
Nearest Railway Station: Chennai - well connected from the cities/towns all over India

Nearest Airport: Chennai has both national and international airports
How to reach: Easily reachable by road, train, and flight
Hotel: Many star hotels, luxury hotels/resorts, and budget hotels are available in Chennai
Restaurants: All options - vegetarian, non-vegetarian, Chinese, South Indian, Gujarati, North Indian, Punjabi,....- you can find everything in Chennai city

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