The lost histories of Madras homes

As Chennai celebrates its 385th birthday, a group of architects highlight some lessons on sustainability and climate-responsive architecture from the past. A look at the lost histories of Madras homes

The 385th Madras Day is just the occasion to celebrate the founding of a cultural city and its architectural landscape. It is a confluence of civilisations, manifested in its architectural evolution, over centuries. Madras, renamed Chennai in 1996, began its journey as a conglomeration of riverine village clusters located close to the ancient Mahabalipuram port.

Its strategic geographical location, on the Coromandel coast, reveals layers of cultural landscapes and architectural transformations that have shaped its identity, over generations.

As legendary historian and chronicler S. Muthiah eloquently describes in Madras Rediscovered, this port-town is the first city of modern India, whose genesis can be traced to the establishment of Fort St. George by the British East India Company in 1639. It marked the beginnings of colonial urbanity, turning Madras into a pivotal trading post and administrative centre. The Portuguese (16th century) had established a foothold, recognising its strategic importance as a trading centre. Madras became a melting pot where diverse cultures gathered, exchanging ideas, traditions, and architectural styles.

From the Sangam era onwards, Romans, Chinese, Koreans, Arabs, Nestorian merchants, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Germans, Armenians, and British, each visited its shores, contributing to an eclectic cultural mosaic. The indigenous Tamil culture, deeply rooted in tradition, provided a resolute foundation upon which these influences were layered, creating a unique architectural landscape. Each of these events shaped the idea of the ‘Madras home’. While some influences continue to persist in Triplicane, many have been forever lost over time, in settlements like George Town, Guindy and Mylapore.

In Mylapore and Triplicane, traditional shop-houses, with fascinating inner courtyards, were organised around shrines. These homes were characterised by their semi-open ‘thinnai’, Madras terraces, an oonjal (swing), and herbal plants, which facilitated natural cooling in a hot-humid climate and stored rainwater. These features are a testimony to the ingenuity of local crafts communities, who recognised the significance of sustainability and climate-responsive architecture, long before it became a modern mantra.

As British influence grew, with the consecration of Fort St. George (17th century onwards), Madras witnessed the emergence of bungalows, with large airy verandahs, sloping Mangalore tiled roofs, set in sprawling gardens.

These bungalows, located around Chetpet, Sterling Road, Saidapet, Guindy and other neighbourhoods, incorporated a new language transported from Europe — neo-Palladian elements and columns, Greek pediments, Neoclassical architraves, Indo-Saracenic styles (influences from Fatehpur-Sikri), and eventually Art Deco and the Modern, drawn largely from Parisian and British homes of the early 20th century. Each style brought with it a new aesthetic imagination to the Madras home, yet adapted to local climate and materials, reflecting a synthesis of foreign and indigenous influences, responding to changing political, social and economic conditions.