Marina Beach

Despite the several man-made structures and architectural marvels on the face of madras. The jewel on the crown for madras has to be the marina beach. The one place where every person in an around Chennai has nostalgic memories. The cheap hangout spot, the lovers park, A foodie’s heaven, a child’s play area- Marina beach is all of these and much more too.
The name Marina is associated with the 3 ½ km distance between the mouth of the Cooum river and the Lighthouse. The idea of building a promenade alongside this stretch of the beach was that of Monstuart Elphinstone Grant-Duff, Governor of Madras from 1881 to 1886. Completed in 1884, he gave it its Italian name – the Marina🌅. The opposite side of the marina beach is dotted with important buildings and heritage sites such as The Madras University, Senate House, Presidency College, Chepauk Palace 🕌, the PWD Buildings, the University Examination Hall, the Ice House, Lady Willingdon Institute, Queen Mary’s College, the office of the Director-General of Police 🏛️ and the All India Radio.

On the beach side we have several statues which also have great historic importance. Triumph of Labour, inspired by the landing of American troops at Iwo Jima, Swami Vivekananda, K Kamaraj, Annie Besant. Three Chief Ministers of the State, CN Annadurai, MG Ramachandran and J.Jaylalitha are remembered with grand memorials on the beach.

The beach has seen several public meetings and historical events from the freedom struggle to the much recent Jallikattu 🐂 Protest. Marina represents everything that is madras. To put it in better words, the marina beach breathes life into this concrete 🌬️ jungle.

Source: Sriram.V

The Lady Wellington School

In a successful political career of more than 23 years as Governor of madras, Governor-general and Viceroy of India, Lord Willingdon made his mark in the history of British India. His wife too left her mark as monuments and properties that still uphold the family name.
The Lady Willingdon Training School came in to being in 1922 when the previously existing Institute of Teacher training was renamed after a dominating and energetic First Lady of Madras — Marie Adelaide Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon. It was one of the earliest educational institutions in madras.

The building was earlier used by Sister Subbulakshmi as a home for widows and destitute women. Lady Willingdon School and the Lady Willingdon Institute of Advanced Study in Education came up in its place. The pioneer Principal Miss. J.M. Gerrard, had a vision of stately edifice, facing the sea, shaped like ‘W’. Her vision materialized when a Scottish architect, under her guidance designed the present building into which the college moved in 1940. The school and college in her name were created to provide educational opportunities to under privileged women and girls and a century later they still continue to do the same.

Source: The Hindu.

Chepauk Palace

The Chepauk Palace was once the crowning jewel of the Arcot Nawabs is now a sorry state of neglect. This palace was the pioneer for Indo-Saracenic architectural style, later followed by ‘Robert Chisholm, Henry Irwin, Lutyens and Baker.

The Palace comprises two distinct blocks that were a hundred years later linked by Chisholm with the distinctive tower. The northern, single-storey block was Humayun Mahal and a part of it was the soaring two-storeyed Diwani Khana (Durbar Hall). The southern block, the Khalsa Mahal, is two-storeyed and smaller domed. In its heyday, the grounds of Chepauk Palace stretched from what is now Bell’s Road to the beach and from Pycroft’s Road to the Cooum River.

SOURCE: Madras Rediscovered

Presidency College

How often does one get to study in a 177 year old institute which is a page out of a history book in itself? It happens only in Madras or to be more precise Presidency College.

Presidency College had its beginning as a started as a preparatory school in 1840 at Edinburgh House, Egmore🚂. It became a high school on April 4, 1841, when it moved into the D’monte house, Egmore. The building also housed the first offices of the university until Presidency College was built. In April 1853, the collegiate departments were added named the Presidency College in 1855 although the college moved into its current building only in 1870-1871. Women🙅‍♀️ weren’t admitted to the college until 1889. Until 1891, the presidency college was also the law college when it moved to a separate campus.

The first Indian Governor-general C. Rajagopalachari, Sir C.V. Raman and Dr S. Chandrashekar are some of the distinguished alumni of this college. Their lecture room M-28 is dedicated to both the Nobel laureates.

Source: 📖 Madras Rediscovered | S.Muthiah

Martin Luther King in Madras

Martin Luther King, 1959 at Presidency College.
“To other countries I may go as a tourist, but to India I come as a pilgrim.” This is what Martin Luther King Jr had to say when he came to India on the invitation of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Martin Luther king’s fight for equal rights of the African-American people in U.S.A was deeply inspired for Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha Movement. Martin Luther King Jr., his wife Coretta Scot King and personal biographer Lawrence Reddick criss-crossed the country as they stopped in Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Madurai and several other cities. He stopped in Madras on February 18 for a brief 2- day trip and was welcomed by officials of the Madras State government.
Despite being separated by an ocean of differences, He immediately struck a chord with the people. His public meetings at Srinivasa Shastri Hall in Mylapore and Presidency College attracted overwhelming crowds. In his speech he was grateful to Mahatma Gandhi for paving the way for a non-violent struggle which changed the course of history in U.S.A. In some miniscule way India also rejoiced when U.S.A got its first African-American president, Barack Obama. Like Martin Luther king’s famous words “I have a dream”. He also saw to it that it came true.

Source:The Hindu | Nithya Menon.