High Court

The HIGH COURT of Judicature at Madras, one of the three High Courts in India established at the Presidency Towns by Letters Patent granted by Her Majesty Queen Victoria, bearing date 26th June 1862, work on the building had started in 1888. The great and imposing building, which houses the High Court at present, was formally proclaimed open by the Governor of Madras on July 12, 1892, and that the cost of the building was well near thirteen lakhs of rupees. The style of the building is Hindu-Saracenic. Almost all the material used in the construction of the building, with the exception of the heavy steel girders to carry the floor, and roof, was manufactured locally. The high court complex is an treasure trove of architectural marvels.

Source: Madrasmusings
Photo: Highcourt in 1905

Law College

The Law College began in 1855 when it was still in the campus of the presidency college. It was only 1891 that the principal, Reginald Nelson, felt his College should have premises of its own and Government agreed to his suggestion. The Law college campus was also designed by Henry Irwin who did a splendid job on the High Court building. Built in the style that harmonised with the Indo-Saracenic of the High Court building, it was ready for occupation by 1899. The site assigned for the Law College was at the other end of the High Court campus, the north-western corner which had been part of the ‘Guava Garden’ cemetery meant for the residents of Fort St. George.

Source: MadrasRediscovered

Dare House, 1940

The name Parry’s corner has always pulled out the curious George in me as a child because I strongly believed it was related to the only other Paris I knew in France. Even though they are totally unrelated the name “Parry’s” has always lent a classy outlook to the earliest neighbourhood of Madras- “The first line beach”. The name owes itself to one Thomas Parry who arrived in Madras in 1788 as a free merchant and established the Parry’s and Co in 1839 with his partner William Dare. Parry& Co went on to become one of the biggest business houses in south and even the country. And it all began in this corner where currently NSC Bose Road meets Rajaji Salai that the first Parry and Lane offices were started. It was here that the French commander Comte De Lally sited his artillery when he besieged Fort St George from 1758-1759. Later a garden house was constructed on the site and it was sold to Nawab Muhammad Ali which passed on to his successors Latour & Co before finally ending up with Mr. Thomas Parry. He re-built the house in the Palladian style , with godowns on the ground floor and offices on the third floor. As business grew, more godowns were added and, in 1864, a third storey was added. In 1938, all the buildings were pulled down to construct the mammoth 4 storied structure at an estimated cost of 1.2 mn Rupees. The building was constructed in the Art Deco style that combines traditional craft motifs with machinery age materials and shapes. When the building opened in 1940, the top storeys were leased to the American Consulate, the Madras Chamber of Commerce and the European Association. Even though the place is widely known as Parry’s Corner and the company as Parry & Co even today, the building was named as Dare House after his business partner William Dare because it would be unfair to the other enterprises which also occupied the building.

Source: The man form Madras S.Muthiah | The Hindu