Indian Columbus

Maybe, because of two magnificent British-era structures on either side of this structure, the Chennai Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Rajaji Salai has become less attractive. And hardly anyone believes that it is also a British-era heritage building. The court is one of those Colonial heritage buildings that still survive in the George Town locality of Madras. The three-storied building appears rectangular, and its architecture is slightly unique. The facade of the building has a series of symmetrical arches framed by rectangular panels. This attractive design is the major highlight of the building. This structure was built in the 1880s and was inaugurated in 1890 CE. Happy travelling.

Sending communication through people to other cities or countries was a practice followed for hundreds of years. The Britishers also followed a similar service when they started postal service. In Madras, Governor Harrison began using the service of a dak runner to send mails to Bengal in 1736 CE. In 1774 CE, the practice of charging for postal service for private letters started. On 1st June 1786 CE, the first General Post Office was started outside the Sea Gate. The post office was shifted to two different locations. Ultimately, it moved into the current building on Rajaji Salai in George Town on 26th April 1884 CE. The splendid GPO building was designed by Chisholm. This Indo-Saracenic style building was constructed for about ten years between 1874 and 1884 CE. This building is gigantic and occupies around 55,000 sq feet. The two 125 feet tall towers are beautiful. The red-colored exterior looks majestic even today but not the interior of the building anymore. In 2000 C.E., a signi...

The Colonial Madras, especially the George Town locality, had a lot of splendid Indo-Saracenic structures. Thanks to our heritage enthusiasm, only a few of them survive today. I wonder how many of us are really interested in appreciating the heritage value of those few surviving structures. The building near GPO, where the State Bank of India functions in Rajaji Salai, is one of those few structures lucky enough to survive. This iconic building is an excellent example of the Indo-Saracenic architecture style. The famous Henry Irwin was the architect of this structure. Namperumal Chetti was the building contractor. The construction of this building was started in 1896 CE. The structure has some historic values related to the banking heritage of the city. It was the head office of the Bank of Madras. Now, it houses the State Bank of India. The brief history of the Bank of Madras becoming SBI is given in the next paragraph. Although the Nagarathars used to provide banking services t...

The First Line Beach and the Second Line Beach, which run parallel, had the British establish the first set of banking institutions and merchant establishments. The First Line Beach Road, later called North Beach Road, was constructed in 1814 CE on reclaimed land. In the 1970s, the road was renamed Rajaji Salai, commemorating C. Rajagopalachari, the first Governor General of India and the former Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency. A statue of Rajaji was unveiled on 24th December 1978 at the junction of Rajaji Salai and NSC Bose Road. It was unveiled by the then Vice President of India, B.D. Jatti, in the presence of M.G. Ramachandran, the then CM of Tamil Nadu state. Rajaji Salai actually starts from the site where this statue is located. Happy travelling.

If you are from Chennai, you would have definitely passed through Parry's corner, if not often, for at least once. It is an important junction and a major landmark of the city. In those days, sometimes people humorously referred to this site as the Paris of India. The junction has an iconic building called Dare House. The site is named after EID Parry Company, which functioned from this building. EID Parry, in turn, was named after Thomas Parry, who set up this company. Thomas Parry was from Wales and registered himself as a free merchant in India. He started his business activities in Madras (India) in 1788 CE. He had many business partners and John William Dare was prominent among them. The current building, Dare House, is named after this person. The site where the building stands today had a garden house. Once, the garden house was owned by Arcot Nawab. The property was purchased by Parry in the early 19th century CE. A lot of additions were made to the structure later. The...

On the busy NSC Bose Road of Parrys corner in Chennai stands a historically significant obelisk, around 250 years old. The French invaded Madras, which was under the control of the British, on 7th September 1746. It was an easy victory for the French. Dupleix, who led the French army, imprisoned a lot of British officers as well as civilians. He was determined to destroy Fort St. George. However, he was not very lucky to remain in the city. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war by providing for Madras to be returned to the British. Hence, the French left Madras in 1749 CE. Before leaving Madras, the French had started razing down the structures to 400 yards from the northern wall of the Fort for security reasons. The weavers and dyers brought from Nellore and Machilipatnam were staying there, and it was called the "Black Town". It was the first Indian settlement developed by the Britishers in Madras. There was another French invasion that happened in 1758-59. After...