Saturday, December 21, 2013

CMDA adds 42 more structures in the heritage list

Chennai:
Forty-two buildings will be added to the existing draft list of heritage structures. This comes in the wake of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) submitting the first list of 66 buildings to the government for notification.
A senior CMDA official told Express that a total of 22 government buildings and 20 private buildings have been included in the second list.
 Some of the major heritage structures included on the list are Connemara Library, which was built in 1896, was designed by Henry Irwin in the Indo-Saracenic style. The Chennai Egmore Railway Station, built in 1908, will also figure on the list.  The structure was also designed by Henry Irwin in the Indo-Saracenic style. Ripon Building, which is currently undergoing a major facelift, has also been included. The hundred-year-old building was designed by G S T Harris.
The list also has Old Mint (Government Printing Press) on Mint Street, which was gutted last month. The building was constructed in 1888 and functioned as a gunpowder manufacturing unit and printing press for the British government.
The other notable inclusion is the Senate House of University of Madras on Kamarajar Salai in Chepauk. It was built in 1864 and designed by Robert F Chisholm. It has a blend of Byzantine and Indo-Saracenic architecture.
The other buildings that will be included are: the Memorial Hall, Chennai Central Railway Station, Southern Railway Headquarters, Madras Veterinary College in Vepery and Victoria Public Hall.
It took the heritage panel more than three years to come out with the list of 108 buildings. However, not a single building has been notified and many of the century-old heritage structures lack maintenance.
Heritage structures like Central Jail, built in 1837, which was among the oldest in the country and used to be known as Madras Penitentiary until 1855, was demolished during the previous DMK regime. Similarly, the terrace of the 245 year old Humayun Mahal in Chepauk Palace collapsed earlier this year due to lack of maintenance.
The other buildings that have been included on the list are: C.S.I Egmore Wesley Church on P H Road,  Society of prevention of cruelty to animals, Vepery, Sterling Gardens (Railway Bungalow) on Sterling Road, St.Mathias Church and  Cemetry, in Vepery,  National Shrine of St.Thomas Basilica, in Santhome, St Ebba’s Girls Higher Secondary School, Mylapore, St. Andrew’s Kirk, in Egmore, Addison’s, on Anna Salai, Curzons & Company, on Walajah Road, Higginbothams, on Anna Salai, Agurchand Mansion, on Anna Salai, Christ Church, Anna Salai, Electric Theatre, on Anna Salai, P.ORR & Sons, Bata’s Building, Anna Salai, Gove Building, on Anna Salai, St. George’s Cathedral, on Cathedral Road, Tamil Nadu Archives Historical Research Centre, in Egmore, Gangadhareeswarar Temple, in Purasavakkam, Bharathiyar Illam, in Triplicane, Parthasarathy Temple, in  Triplicane, Durgah Hazareth Syed Moosa Shah Khaderi, on Anna Salai, Madras - I -Azam, on Anna Salai, Schmidt Memorial, in Besant Nagar, Church of Christ the King, on the Loyola College Campus, National Art Gallery, in Egmore, Anatomy Block, Madras Medical College, Wallajah Big Mosque, on Triplicane High Road, Thousand Light Assembly Hall, on Anna Salai, and Humayun Mahal - Cheapuk Palace, in Cheapauk

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