Goshen Library in Chintadripet receiving a deft restorative treatment

The duration of the work in Goshen library in Chintadripet is 12 months; three months have elapsed, and the work would reportedly be completed before the deadline.

The Heritage Division of Public Works Department is renovating Goshen library in Chintadripet, renewing its vitality through wall-strengthening procedures and refreshing its unique features without altering them.

The work is being executed at a calculated pace, needless haste being avoided as the building is bound to be weather-beaten, and needs to be accorded the same care that one would give an antique vase while packing it for shipping.

According to sources familair with the work, the walls have gone through a process of limewater strengthening.

At the last look, the main hall of the library was standing “open to sky”, steel beams sitting on the pillars. The groundwork for the laying Madras terrace roof — in the original flatbed format — had apparently been carried out. Joists would be placed and the roof installed over it. The pediment, one of the high points of the building, would be intact.

The duration of the work is 12 months; three months have elapsed, and the work would reportedly be completed before the deadline.

A March 22, 1929 report in The Hindu sketching out the highlights of the ceremony marking the opening of Goshen Library notes the presence of a Badminton court as a supplementary feature of the facility.

There is physical space: the front yard likely sported this court. However, the mental space to fit this court into the library premises is restricted. Because in recent decades, the library has had only a solemn air about it: knowledge seekers silently deciphering the meanings pregnant in the printed word. That the premises was filled with roars of delight over delectably landed smashes is a surprise.