Another LIC building

If this tweet is true (and there is no reason it shouldn't be), there is little change in the Bombay Mutual Building over the past 60 years. The colours are slightly different and it has lost the words identifying it, even though you can spot traces of where they were. The building is a great example of the Art Deco aesthetic of mid-20th century Madras. 

The 'original' occupant of that space, sometime from the 1850s, was the Madras Christian College, which built the Anderson Hall as part of its presence in 'town'. When the college shifted to Tambaram, they seem to have sold, or pledged the Hall to the Travancore & Quilon National Bank in 1937, which at the time was the fourth largest bank in the country. In what should be story for another day, the T&QNB was brought down by a run on the bank, which was allegedly orchestrated by CP Ramaswamy Iyer, the then Diwan of Travancore. For our limited purposes here, this resulted in the Government of Madras auctioning off the Anderson Hall to the Bombay Mutual Insurance Company in 1938. 

After a few years, the BMIC decided it would build a fresh structure here. J.R. Davis, of the architectural firm Prynne, Abbot and Davis, who had designed the facade of the Connemara, as well as the Dare House, provided the design for this building as well. The construction was by Coromandel Engineering and the building was inaugurated by the Governor of Madras in 1955. Within a year, BMIC had been merged into the LIC of India, who are the current owners of this building; hopefully they will preserve it much better than they have done with the Bharat Insurance Building on Mount Road!

Going, going...

Auctions in Chennai bring to mind only one name: Murray. That name was borne by a gentleman who, in January 1915, was appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court. Three other names he had, for he was fully Sir Victor Murray Coutts-Trotter; and it took him another nine years to become the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court. During his tenure as the Chief Justice, he learnt that the firm Dowden & Co., auctioneers, was shutting down and moving back to England. The courts needed an auction house and Sir Victor looked around for one. He finally sounded out S. Vedantam, who was working with Dowden & Co., about the need to set up one. 

Vedantam took the justice's approval to name the firm after him. And so was born, in 1927, the firm Murray & Company. Whether the Hon'ble Justice had any stake in it is unclear, but very soon, Murray & Co., was appointed as the Receivers for the Madras Presidency. With business growing, operating out of a small office on Thambu Chetty Street, near the Court, was not good enough. A branch was opened on Mount Road, within the grounds of Kushaldas Estate. 

That branch, was in these premises, tucked in behind the LIC building. A year ago, the building was deemed unsafe for occupation and that, probably more than anything else, forced the firm to move away to Mylapore. Over the 87 years of its existence, Murray & Co. has handled several auctions, both public and private. They have sold a hospital, a king's residence, army surpluses... pretty much everything that is fit to be sold. Given a few months, they would probably have been able to find a buyer for it themselves!

Old building

With the nationalization of the life insurance business, the LIC of India became a monopoly. With that also came the assets of several of the life insurance companies that were doing business in India - almost 250 of them. 

Many of those companies had long histories. Among the oldest was the Oriental Life Insurance Company of Calcutta, which had been started in Calcutta in 1818. With its nationalisation, their buildings were also taken over by the LIC. That's how this lovely building, at the corner of Armenian Street and Errabalu Chetty Street came to have that sign in front, looking quite out of place with the rest of the facade. 

It is often held up as an example of Art Deco in Madras; of course it is from that period, the 1920s, but somehow I think the architect / builder slipped in some Jaipuri-Jaina touches as well. The jalli of the uppermost balcony is, in my mind a giveaway - what do you think?

Thrice born

The first building at this site was a cinema named 'Globe'. It was one of the earliest theatres on Mount Road and enjoyed a pretty good run for a few decades. In the late 1970s, it was shut down and, after  a couple of years, was re-opened as the Alankar Theatre. In between, just before it shut down, it went through a re-branding, calling itself 'New Globe'.

Even its makeover into Alankar did not stop the plunge. Alankar became one of the earliest theatres on Mount Road to transform itself completely. Forsaking the silver screen, the owners went on to build a commercial complex. In naming it Prince Kushal Towers, they were probably recalling a time when this was part of Khushaldoss Chaturbujdoss' estate along Mount Road!

Standing tall

It was at one time the tallest building in India. Conceived as the headquarters of his business ventures, M. Ct. M Chidambaram Chettiar spared no effort in getting the best architects to design it. Even though the original architects - Brown & Moulin of London - went off the project after construction had started, LM Chitale, who was later to be known as one of Chennai's best architects, took over supervision of the building's completion. 

Based on the design of the UN Secretariat building in New York city, this building also marked a transition in Madras' construction technology. Into the 1950s, bricks and lime were the material of choice even for large commercial or office buildings. This one was the first to use concrete columns, paving the way for larger buildings to come up in other parts of the country. Chidambaram Chettiar did not live to see the building in use; he passed away in 1954. And when the insurance business was nationalized in 1956, the planned original occupants - United India Insurance, New Guardian Life Assurance, Travancore Rayons and Indian Overseas Bank - gave way to the new behemoth, the Life Insurance Corporation of India. 

No longer the tallest building even in Chennai, the LIC building is still a grand structure. A few months ago, there was a scare that the tunnelling for the Chennai Metro is causing cracks in the edifice. But that is nothing for a building that was shut for well over a year in 1975-76, after a devastating fire rendered access to any part of this building dangerous!                                  

Eye-catching

It is certainly not a very 'descript' building. Like hundreds of others in Chennai, this one too is a just a regularly shaped block of concrete. Being right across the road from the LIC Building on Mount Road, it would have been completely ignored, had it not been for the arresting geometrical pattern on its facade. 

For a few years, that pattern made sure the DBS Bank faced up to its taller neighbour across the road. It could have become an instantly recognisable landmark itself, but apart from the facade, there was little else of interest in the building. One was startled, but one moved on. 

This picture was taken a couple of years ago. Today, you will not be able to get this view. And once the Chennai Metro comes up, those across the street will probably no longer have their eyes jerked towards this colourful structure!

Under (re)construction

This is not a new building, for sure. The Bharat Insurance Building has been around for as long as I can remember. In fact, it has been around for so long that it is not being used anymore. But do you see those towers in the background, with scaffolding around them? 

That's because they belong to a much, much older era. They were part of the Kardyl Building, which was inaugurated in 1897. In the course of their long life, they have weathered much, but the sheer neglect of the past fifteen years or so pushed them to the brink of ruin. In August 2006, the Madras High Court restrained the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the current owners of the building from "demolition or change in character" of the building, thanks to the efforts of Chennai's minuscule but valiant heritage lobby. Since then, an agreement appears to have been arrived at. There is some restoration activity going on at this building. One hopes that it will go back to the bubbling spirit it had in the days when it housed a soda-water bottling plant and a beer parlour on the premises!

It is 'Theme Day', over at www.citydailyphoto.com! Go over there to find photos from around the world on the theme 'construction'!!

A tall one

It is not very easy to decide which photo should be posted for a milestone. The decision about the first photo of this blog was fairly easy, plus I had a decently long time to think about it. The decision about the 50th photo was taken out of my hands - it was June theme day and there was just one photo that could go up. Even then, I did not start thinking about the 100th photo; it is only during the past week that the thought that this has to be a significant photo kept nagging away....

And so, this building. In some of my earlier posts, I have mentioned how a shot of this building was enough to establish that the hero had arrived in Madras - whether the movie was in Tamil, Malayalam or maybe even Telugu. It remains (I think) the tallest building in Chennai. The construction of this building was begun in 1953 - the design inspired by the United Nations Headquarters in New York - by M.Ct.M.Chidambaram Chettiar, who dreamt of it showcasing United India Insurance, Indian Overseas Bank and Travancore Rayons, three of his big business ventures. Chidambaram Chettiar died in 1954; his dream for this building died a couple of years later, when the property, belonging to United India Insurance, was taken over by the government when insurance was nationalised in 1956.

Having always seen this building from Mount Road, I did not think I could ever have a different view of it. What I did not realize was that the property has now been extended all the way back to General Patters Road; it is not easy, as you drive up GP Road to figure out how the 'Golden Jubilee Gateway' takes you to Mount Road - it is only when you go a little beyond that you get to see the building itself and then it becomes clear. When I got this view of the LIC Building, I knew that it would make the 100th post - the building where both my parents spent a significant part of their working lives!

Hot property

Tarapore Towers, where Mount Road forks off towards Chindadiripet, is a building that has a reasonably fascinating history. But even then, it really couldn't compete for public interest, all of which was usually centered on the LIC building, hardly a kilometre away to the south, on Mount Road itself. That was how it was, until the building hosted this large sign on its terrace.

If I remember right, this was the first public LED display that came up in Chennai, over 25 years ago. And even if I remember wrong, this is certainly the one that has survived for the longest time! It normally shows the time and the temperature, sandwiched by advertisements - most of which are for MRF, a Chennai-based tyre manufacturer.

Thanks to the sign, the Tarapore Towers has claimed its rightful place as a Chennai landmark; and yes, the city is that hot at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon!