The Cosmopolitan Club

The Cosmopolitan Club is one of the landmarks of the city. Founded in 1873, it was meant to be a place where Indians and the English could meet on an equal footing unlike the earlier clubs, such as the Madras Club and the Madras Cricket Club, that were only for the whites. The Club was initially at Moore’s Gardens, Nungambakkam, and moved to its present location in 1882.Set in a compound filled with trees, the club building is two-storeyed and is a traditional brick and lime structure.

The first Secretary was Captain Tyrell. The Club began with 40 members.The present property is said to have been the site of Simpson’s, coach-builders, or of Thomas Waller’s stables. It was bought by the Club for Rs.17,000. The purchase was funded through the issue of debentures to members.

It is one of the most popular clubs of the city, known for its South Indian cuisine and its facilities.

Source: Sriram.V
LOCATION

https://sriramv.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/the-cosmopolitan-club-a-brief-history/

 

 The Cosmopolitan Club in 1956

Gemini Studios

Gemini Studios or, to give the place its propername, Movieland-Gemini Studios, was the best known among the several film studios of Madras.

The story of the property, at the intersection of Mount Road and Nungambakkam High Road, goes back many years. After passing into the hands of varios persons. In 1937, the property was purchased by film director K. Subrahmanyam who established a studio there for his Motion Picture Producers Combine (MPPC). It was here that some of his famous films, Thyaga Bhoomi (1938) included, were shot. On December 21, 1940, the studio was burned to the ground necessitating a distress sale of the land. It was bid for and bought by S.S. Vasan of Ananda Vikatan.

Renamed Gemini Studios in 1941, the property embarked on the most exciting phase of its existence. Several hits, including Chandralekha (1948), were made here, making Vasan a movie moghul. The studio was a cosmopolitan place with people from all over the country and even some foreigners working for The Boss as Vasan was always referred to. The golden era of Gemini was undoubtedly the 1940s and the early 1950s.
The Boss died in 1969 after a painful bout with cancer and with him much of the Gemini magic too went. His family decided to focus on his publishing activities and preferred to sell Gemini to developers.
Now it is nothing but a cluster of multi-storeyed buildings and a five-star hotel, but till the late 1960s this was the place that embodied cinema.

Source: Sriram.V | Madrasmusings | Vikatan

http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2024%20No%208/madras-landmarks.html

http://madrasmusings.com/Vol%2023%20No%2012/when-the-bugles-blow.html

Gove Building, Anna Salai

Vintage cars are indeed fascinating things and this spot on mount road has been attracting car afficionados since long. Among all the colonial buildings on Mount Road, the Gove building (earlier known as Cuddon Building) is a unique one because it was built to be used as a show room for Simpson and Co based in Madras.  Built in 1916 in  Indo-Saracenic style, this ornate brick double-storied  commercial  building was considered the “finest showroom in India. 
The name Cuddon building had close link with  George Cuddon of Simpson Co. When the building came up for sale, in 1943,  V.S. Thiruvengadaswamy (VST) bought the building and renamed it as Gove Building. 

The subsidiary company of VST Motors, VST Titanium Motors, is running  Mercedes-Benz 🚗 dealership in this building. So, the traditional  nostalgic link between this building with fine stone columns and the luxury cars continue unabated. The company made some changes inside the building and never touched the outer part to retain its heritage value.

In 2016, 🎉 the building completed its first centenary.

Source:📷The Hindu

Connemara Hotel

Lord Connemara is a name that is very familiar to Madras though he served only for a brief 3 years as the governor of Madras. The Connemara hotel then known as the imperial hotel was established in 1854 by T. Ruthnavaloo Mudaliar. Located at the intersection of Mount and Binny Roads, it stands on historic land – property of the Nawabs of Arcot. The Imperial was succeeded by The Albany in 1886, which in 1890 became the Connemara. The new owners were the brothers P. Cumaraguru and P. Chokalinga Mudelly
The Albany became Spencer property in 1890 and was re-christered the Connemara. It was much speculated that the name was given because the lady Connemara stayed there for several months after finding the lord in the company of other ladies at their home. They eventually ended up getting divorced when they returned back to England. But it was later clarified that the hotel was named after Robert Bourke, Baron of Connemara and not his ex-wife.

By the early 1930s, however, there was need for modernising and this was done based on designs from the architects’ firm of Jackson and Barker of the city. It was they who gave the hotel its art deco façade which is featured in this photo and which still survives.

In 1974, the Spencer’s International Hotels Limited, which still owns the Connemara, entered into a management contract with the Taj Group of Hotels, owned by the Tatas. In 1995, the Taj name was prefixed to the Connemara and so it remained till a couple of years back when, as part of a rebranding exercise by the Taj Group, the Connemara became part of the Vivanta range of Taj Hotels.

SOURCE: Madras Rediscovered |S.Muthiah

LIC, 1959

LIC building was the first skyscraper in Madras when it was built in 1959 with 15 stories at a height of 177ft. The building was built at a cost of ₹ 8.7 million in an total area of 1,26,000 sq ft. The building marked the transition from lime-and-brick construction to concrete columns in the region.

It was the tallest building in Chennai for over 35 years before being surpassed by the Hyatt Regency Building in Anna Salai and the Arihant Majestic Towers in Koyambedu, both in the mid-1990s. But LIC still happens to remain an iconic structure on chennai’s skyline and history.
M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettyar, the founder of Indian Overseas Bank and the United India Insurance, identified the location on Mount Road to construct an 18-storey building for his group’s headquarters and conceived the building in 1952. The building was designed by the London-based architects H. J. Brown and L. C. Moulin. The building was built on the lines of the UN Secretariat building in New York City.
The construction was completed in the year 1959 and the building was unveiled by the then Union Finance Minister Morarji Desai. The completed office building was to become the zonal and Madras divisional office of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and not that of the United India Life Insurance due to the nationalisation of the insurance service and all the assets were made over to LIC.

As tall as LIC” – a commonly used phrase emphasises how much of pride the people of madras associated with their beloved LIC building. Even today it is hard not to catch a glimpse of the building while passing through Mount Road.

SOURCE: Wikipedia.