Heritage Walk_Royapettah

 

Heritage Walk- Royapettah

Of late, I observed that the words ‘Heritage Tours’ appear everywhere, be it the social media or the press, particularly around times of celebrations. The words fascinated me...... intrigued me..... and haunted me.

 Heritage Tours.

What are they? What do these words mean? How does one go about? These are some of the questions that I pondered over and ultimately came to a conclusion that the best course to finding answers would be to take part in a one such Heritage Tour to have a first-hand experience as also to understand.

Sadly, the Heritage Tours surrounding the ‘Madras Week’ this year (2022)were almost over ... the ‘Walks’ have given way to ‘ Talks’ and I was frantically searching for one ‘Walk’. Then as luck would have it, I came across an ad in Instagram about a ‘Heritage Tour ‘titled ‘Royals and Residences’ and I booked for a slot without any delay. So, this is going to be my first Heritage Tour.... ‘Should be exciting’ I thought to myself.

The day before the tour, the sky was alarmingly cloudy and to me it seemed like it is going to be torrential rains atleast for 2 days. I thought the tour could be cancelled. I went to bed that night, without much hope. ‘Maybe, next year’, I said to myself as I dozed off to sleep.

 The next day dawned as a pleasant and welcome surprise for, the sun was up smiling, bright and shining and I reached the assembling spot (Entrance of ‘Amir Mahal’) ahead of the scheduled time. Slowly, the other participants trickled in and we were eager to get ahead. Whenever I crossed ‘Amir Mahal’ during my travel within the city, I used to always wonder how life would be inside.....How the people living inside would be engaged through the day......Here comes an opportunity.....

Ms. Aafreen, an affable young lady arrived shortly to lead the group..... And the first news was bad news..... We are not going inside ‘Amir Mahal’ the most prominent locale in Royapettah. I personally was disappointed. Thanks to Corona, Ms. Aafreen explained. Therefore we had to contend with the exterior of the ‘Amir Mahal’ and its decorative lamps.......the interior would always remain a mystery.

 

Thereafter she led the group through different streets and lanes of Royapettah, punctuated by houses of a byegone era.  It was like being transported to a different era.

Ms. Aafreen, I understand is an architect, and so was able to explain the story behind the heritage buildings and also the reason behind the manner of construction of  those heritage buildings.

We walked through the streets and lanes of Royapettah admiring the typical style of construction, marked by vertical rulings, the wooden windows with iron bars etc. Typically the doors had an open upper half and closed lower half.

 Arumuga Vilas, another imposing structure dates back to the 1930s we understand.....has construction elements from various styles...the columns on either side of the doors pertain to the Ionic Order of Greek architecture

  

Our next stop was Gowri Bagh a k a –Twin House’.....we were told that it is inspired by the neoclassical style of architecture..... With wooden window frames ......stained glass windows......a symmetrical structure ...but in a pitiable state of decay...

 

Woodlands Estate, it appears was once the residence of the Rajahs of Ramnad... we saw the place where the original Woodlands Hotel stood....again uncared for....sadly.

 

Clock Tower – Ms. Aafreen tells us that the Clock Tower was provided by Gani & Sons in the 1930s (after studying the Big Ben) and being maintained by P.ORR & Sons........ It is in classic art deco style and the best part is its still running........and we were enthralled to know that before clock towers came into existence, cannon balls used to be fired to mark time.

 

We the crossed The Ilford House, another old building now under Fabindia.

Officers Laundry

We learnt that Officers laundry opposite to the Clock Tower used to cater to the Englishmen who stayed around the present Express Estates and probably that earned the name. However, I  googled and found that there is no documented history of this shop. Infact, this is what an article in Hindu dt.12.12.2012 had to say:

‘Officer’s Laundry was probably called that because of the number of British officers who were their customers but Abdullah( present owner) is not so sure’.

So be it.

 

Next we moved on to 'Agurchand Mansion'....originally known as Khaleeli Mansions( the property where the mansion stands today was purchased from Azamunissa Begum, the wife of Ghulam Ghouse Khan, the titular Nawab of Carnatic by Khalilee Shirazee, and he later constructed this mansion)........according to Ms. Aafreen it is a fine example of the Indo-Saracenic architectural style but also apparent is the Persian influence highlighted by its foliated and pointed arches.... Strangely, it now houses many detective agency offices under its roof. Ms. Aafreen clarified that the reason for the calibrated increase in size of the three arcades from top to bottom of ‘ Agurchand Mansion’ was not only aesthetic consideration but also to distribute the load of the building evenly.

Spencers

Ofcourse Spencers.....Ms. Aafreen showed a picture of how Spencers used to look before the present Spencers came into being and nostalgia took over.... I remember now.....I had the fortune to visit Spencers then when I was a kid along with my cousins ....It was like walking into a fairyland... It was Christmas time...and the inside of Spencers was nothing like I ever saw anywhere in the city( at that time).... the big Christmas tree fully decked like a beautiful bride kept me glued.... the colourful lights....the small present boxes.... it was so beautiful, I couldn’t take my eyes off......

Coming back to the present ....we crossed the Gove building........ originally known as Cuddon Building, it was built in 1916 in Indo- Saracenic style,  to be used as a car show room for Simpson and Company. After V.S. Thiruvengadaswamy (VST) Mudaliar brought the building in 1943, he changed the name to ‘Gove Building’.

Other interesting visuals along the way

 

Having born and bred in Chennai (Madras, for me) there are many places within the city that I had never ventured into.  Heritage Walks such as these open new vistas for you to savour the myriad colours of the city. The heritage buildings may be ones we have already seen while passing by, but after the heritage walks you begin to stop by and admire them, nostalgically.

As far my reactions after the Walk...  I would say it is mixed....  happy that I learnt more about a place in the city I love and sad since many of these beautiful structures are in a state of decay...... I only wish that these heritage structures are preserved and maintained through State effort preventing further decay so that our future generations also could savour these standing testimonies of history....

As we bid farewell I asked, Ms. Aafreen what prompts her to do walks like these and she said.... ‘To take the city to the people so they love it more and take efforts to preserve its rich heritage...’

So be it .......May your breed grow.

As far as whether I would go for such Heritage Walks in the future despite that initial disappointment? A big YES.....

Looking forward......Some other place....some other time.