As a boy, T.S. Arunachalam loved to play resident historian from his house in Tiruvottiyur in Chennai. When he began looking for clues to the building’s age, he found they were everywhere — scribbles on a wall recording a child’s height from the 1900s, notes in a relative’s diary about the construction of the Madras High Court in 1861...
Today, Arunachalam, fondly known as Mani Gurukkal, continues to live in this house that is as old as the 150-year-old High Court, if not older.
While Chennai’s heritage structures such as the Ripon Buildings and Santhome Cathedral are celebrated, its beautiful old houses, many of them well past a century, are equally a part of the city’s architectural identity. The one-foot-thick limestone walls, the columns, the beams fashioned from Burma teak, and the Madras tiles that line the sloping roofs stand out conspicuously in the urban jungle of modern, utilitarian architecture.
The Edwardian homes at Pallavaram and St. Thomas Mount, the mansions of T. Nagar and Kodambakkam, and the agraharams of Mylapore and Triplicane have surprisingly survived the real estate boom of the 1990s.
But living in a heritage home means time and money; maintaining them is no small feat — whitewashing each summer, fresh plastering before each monsoon, and the perennial cleaning of the dust-filled tiles and termite-infested woodwork.
For most people who live here, these houses are not just shelter — they are like an ageing member of the family who needs attention and who is a fascinating repository of memories.
Text by Ujjvala Kaumudi
Old is gold: Karpaga Vilas in Kodambakkam was once called the airplane house because the portico looked like the nose of an aircraft. Identical ornate balconies on either sides are the wings and the backyard is the tail.
Gracious in age: Built around the 1920s, the ancestral home of author Timeri N. Murari in Kilpauk is as tasteful as it once was.
Unusual: Unlike the usual style of Mylapore, this jharoka balcony of Rajasthani architecture in Sathya Mohan Raj’s house stands out.
Abandoned: At Mani Gurukkal’s 160-year-old house at Thiruvottiyur, the well that gushed with water is now a corner that gathers all things unused.
Tough task: Maintaining heritage homes is an extremely cash- and labour-intensive affair. This once church-owned house in St. Thomas Mount is covered in tarpaulin to protect it from rain.
Comfort zone: The high priest’s house of the Triplicane Parthasarathi temple, about 160 years old, still stands true to the Agraharam architecture even after the facade and the thinnai are modernised.
High glory: The chandelier and ceiling of Rogerton House built around 1860 in St. Thomas Mount. It was once part of St. Patrick’s Church, and was finally bought by M. Sukumaran who revived the house’s original glory.