CHENNAI COLONIAL

ARCHITECTURE
Fathima Samana S
HISTORY
Colonial architecture in Chennai represents a
synthesis of Islamic designs and Indian
materials developed by British architects
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries.
The hybrid, combined diverse architectural
elements of Hindu and Mughal.
The following are the principal Characteristics of
Buildings

Onion (Bulbous) Domes
Overhanging Eaves
Pointed Arches, Cusped Arches, or Scalloped Arches
Vaulted Roofs
Domed Kiosks
Many Miniature Domes, or Domed Chatris
Towers or Minarets
Harem Windows
Open Pavillions
Pierced Open Arcading


The leading Architects of colonial architecture
in Chennai were

Robert Fellowes Chisholm
Charles Mant
Henry Irwin
William Emerson
George Wittet
Frederick W. Stevens

List of prominent colonial style
buildings in Chennai City

1. G.P.O. Building
2. State Bank of INDIA
3. Metropolitan Mag. Courts
4. High Court
5. YMCA
6. LAW College
7. Madras University (library)
8. Senate House
9. Chepauk Palace & Tower
10. PWD Buildings
11. Oriental Research Institute
12. Victoria Hostel
13. Bharat Insurance Building
14. Agurchand Mansion
15. Poomphukar Showroom
16. College of Engineering
17. Boat Club Old Mowbrays
Club
18. Metropolitan Mag. Court
19. Museum & Connemara
Library
20. Egmore Railway Station
21. Veterinary College
22. State Archives Building
23. National Art Gallery
24. College Of Arts & Crafts
25. St. Georges (School) Chapel
26. Southem Railway Offices
27. MMC Anatomy Block
St. GEORGE FORT.
Fort St George (or historically,
White Town) is the name of the
first English (later British) fortress
in India, founded in 1644.

The first factory within the
fortified enclosure was
completed on St George's Day, 23
April, 1640, and named Fort St
George
The Fort is a stronghold
with six-meter high walls
that withstood a number of
assaults in the 18th century.

The Fort now serves as the
administrative headquarters for
the legislative assembly of
Tamil Nadu state

The first building to be seen on
entering the Fort through the sea
Gate is the Neo Classical
Secretariat

Behind it lies the Legislative
Council Chambers


The 45-m (148-ft) tall flagstaff was
erected by Governor Elihu Yale in
1687 to hoist the Union Jack for first
time in India

Standing to the South of the
Legislature building is St mary's
Church, the oldest Anglican Church
in Asia.

To the north is the Parade ground,
formerly Cornwallis Square, which
was laid out in 1715

To its east are ministerial offices, and
barracks for regiments. Near the
southeast corner of the parade
ground is the Fort Museum, built in
the 1780s


Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington and
triumphed at Waterloo, Robert Clive, both
lived in Fort St George. Their Residences,
Wellesley House and Clive House, still stand,
albeit in a somewhat dilapidated condition,
across from the church


The Fort initially took about 14 years to
build and was designed as a squarish
structure with canons in the corners


Towns evolved around the fort a
white town within the town and the
Indian or Black Town
outside its walls



The French destroyed part of Black
Town for security reasons. Battle of
the Adyar River between the French
and the Nawab's troops, the French
won and occupied Santhome



Old Fort House was replaced by a
new one that still remains at the
core of the present Secretariat

THE FINAL STAGE OF THE FORT WHICH STILL REMAINS UNALTERTED.
St. Georges Cathedral


The Church was opened in 1815 AD. The British East India
Company's Senior Engineer Col. J. L. Caldwell designed the
church

The site with an advantageous location was called the
Choultry Plain.

The architecture is remarkable for its tall spire, pillars,
marble statues, mural tablets and memorials inside.

The Directors of the British East India Company presented
the turret clock to the Trustees in 1828. The turret clock
was set up on the three faces of the Church steeple, which
is 139 feet (42 m) high

The Altar of the Cathedral is majestic. The
reredos is a depiction of the ascension of Lord
Jesus Christ sculpted in alabaster, at the top of
which stands a black marble statue of St George

The chancel was later lengthened with a ten
foot radius semicircular apse. The Vestry and the
Lady chapel were also added later

In 1884, the Trustees replaced the plaster roof
of the nave by one of teak and patterned it with
papier-mch

On either side of the altar in vibrant colours are
two panels describing two important events in
the life of Jesus in glass paintings.

There are stained glass panels on top of all the
doors of the Cathedral. Sunlight filters through
these shining examples of medieval art, leaving
the entire Cathedral bathed in rich, warm hues.



Great museum & Library

1. Galleries of the Museum
2. Main Building (New
Extension Building) Galleries
Archaeology
Zoology
Botany
Geology
Numismatics
3. Front Building
Anthropology
Archaeology
4. Bronze Gallery
Archaeology
Numismatics
Chemical Conservation
5. Children's Museum
6. National Art Gallery


Designed by H.Irvin, the then consulting Architect to the
Government of Madras, the Connemara Public Library was
constructed as a semi-circle end oblong building

The roof is truncated semi-circle. The truncated top has a
wooden ceiling. But the two curved sides are made of
colored glass pieces artistically cemented to one another

Ornamental acanthus leaves and flowers adorn the pillars,
windows and bookshelves

flooring is done with marble slabs brought from Krishna
District (Andhra Pradesh) through the Buckingham canal, in
boats



It had about 20,080 feet of shelving space and
about 27,000 sq.feet of floor space, it
accommodates about 2, 50,000 volumes on its
shelves.
To cope up with the increasing stock, a three-
storied building with 71,700 sq.ft. was
constructed in 1973.
Further to accommodate the increased stock of
books another three-storied building with
21,823 sq.ft. was added in 1999.


GENERAL POST OFFICE.


Senate House - Madras University


Egmore raiway station.
The station was apparently constructed from
1906, and was officially opened on June 11, 1908.
It was built by T. Samynada Pillai at a cost of INR
1.7 million
Henry Irwin, who did much of latter day Indo-
Saracenic in Madras, and E.C. Bird, an architect,
worked on the design of the Egmore building,
which was sympathetically added to in the 1930s
and 1980s.
Structure : Standard on-ground station
Platforms : 11
Tracks : 15
Accessible : Handicapped/disabled access

Madras High Court
High Court was established on June 26, 1892
under the guidance of the famed architect
Henry Irwin
It is believed to be one of the second largest
judicial buildings in the world.
This complex houses the High Court, the small
Causes Court and the City Civil Court. It is
considered to be one of the three High Courts
of india
Red sand stone construction, Ornamental
decorations on the walls, stained glass
windows and minarets add beauty to this
building.
The compound has a pyramid shape tomb,
which belongs to the only son of Elihu Yale,
. A fine example is Court No 13, which has
stained glass, fretted wood work, carved
furniture, silvered panels and a painted ceiling