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.

Madras Flood, 1943

Rains are lovely, refreshing and our vast agricultural community depends on it. But when rain takes a turn for cyclone. Not even the mighty madras stands a chance. Madras braved a rainy season like the one in 2015.
It was the October of 1943. An unrelenting downpour that lasted around six days led to breaches in tanks and canals and swollen lakes and rivers, and rendered thousands homeless and resulted in loss of lives and property.
The Cooum broke its embankments and gushed forth into alarming streams that plunged many areas — including Kilpauk, Purasaiwalkam, Perambur, Mount Road, Egmore, Chindatripet and Pudupet — into complete disarray. The Adyar river also swelled and overflowed, but the damage was restricted to the areas in its vicinity.
Slum dwellers around Madras and residents of working class localities — which included Choolai, Perambur, Kosapet, Kondithope and Chintadripet — bore the brunt of the flood fury. Their huts and tenements destroyed, they were sheltered in Corporation schools and Government buildings and marriage halls.
The Ripon Buildings overflowed with residents of Pudupet and Chintadripet. Residents of worst-hit neighbourhoods moved to the places — such as Mylapore, George Town, Royapuram and parts of Triplicane — where the floods did not wreak much havoc. Just like this time, the crisis brought people together. Citizens formed groups that fed the homeless. The Mayor’s Flood Relief Fund, instituted in the 1930s, was resurrected and opened for donations. The Council of the Madras Corporation transferred Rs. 50,000 from the general funds to this Fund. People from all walks of life pitched in. One of the amazing things about Madras and its people is their resilience. Hell or high waters, the city always gets back on its feet!

Source:The Hindu

Anna Flyover 1973.

Gemini Bridge is a name that is almost synonymous to Madras and now Chennai. A day spent in Chennai is not complete without driving past this dear old friend. People have dropped his surname, they fondly call him Gemini! Even though his name board says otherwise.
It is curious that the name Anna flyover didn’t stick despite C.N. Annadurai being one of the most celebrated leaders and chief ministers of Tamil Nadu. Gemini in Gemini Flyover refers to the Famous Gemini Film Studio which was the pioneer of Tamil Cinema that was once located in the present day Park hotel area. Sometimes it feels as though this bridge was Chennai’s middle finger to the other metropolitan cities considering that it was built way back in 1973 at a whopping amount of Rs. 6.6 million and opened to public on July 1, 1973 by the then chief minister Karunanidhi. It was the longest and one of the top rate flyovers at that time in India.

It was Chennai’s first step in to the big leagues and making its mark as a city with excellent infrastructure and that has led to the city being known today as the Detroit of India.Gemini Flyover, is a dual-armed flyover with a 24 ft access ramp on Gopathy Narayanaswamy Chetty Road to link up with the main flyover, just south of the intersection. An elliptical path called ‘Clover-leaf’ links up with GN Chetty Road at the ground level, through a longer span specially provided to relieve heavy traffic in the main flyover.
Today Chennai is criss crossed with flyovers and much more are bound to come up thanks to the ever growing population but Gemini flyover will always remain etched in the minds of the people.

Source: The Hindu

Thomas Munro Statue, 1838

Even though there are several statues for governors of the colonial period all over india, The statue for Governor of Madras Sir Thomas Munro mounted on a horse in Anna salai deserves a special mention because of its grandeur and the fond love people of madras have for him . When he died in 1827 due to Cholera, Sir Francis Chatrey the most outstanding English portrait sculptor of his generation, was commisioned to sculpt a statue but it was completed only in 1838. The model for the horse was found in King George V stable and it was also sculpted in statues of other kings such as the Duke of Wellington. Another difficulty was that the sculptor had to make do with one 3/4 portrait photo showing only one side of his face.The whole statue weighing 6 tonnes was initially moulded in plaster of Paris and later cast in bronzes as 5 different parts i.e the horse, tail,sword, rider and stirrup which was later assembled together.
The statue was initally planned to be placed opposite to the present University buildings. It was then Governor of Madras Elphinstone who decided that the present location was a better spot and a public holiday was declared on the day of inaugration. Anothet peculiar aspect of this statue is the absence of saddle or stirrups which is said to be a intentional reference to Munro’s penchant for bareback riding.

Source: Sriram.V | The Hindu