The young businesses keeping Chennai’s age-old bungalows on the map

From luxury shopping outlets to indie music venues, we explore the buildings that bridge Chennai’s historic and contemporary life, and meet the entrepreneurs keeping them alive

Barracks, ancestral home, wedding venue... Chennai’s Luz House has seen many uses over the centuries. As the 250-year-old property inches its way back into the city’s social life, after a pandemic-prompted hiatus, it finds other heritage properties in the fray, newly inaugurated to woo Chennai in imaginative ways. Cafes, event venues, performance platforms, flagship stores… a clutch of young entrepreneurs are now basing their businesses in age-old city architecture. In the process, they not only find steady means of upkeep for these maintenance-heavy structures, but also make sure they continue to be a part of contemporary Chennai life.