Why Chennai’s timeless Art Deco buildings must be preserved

Latha Madhu of multi-designer store Collage recently shifted her store to an Art Deco home in Nungambakkam. “We have beautiful examples of the genre in homes near the Sangeet Academy and in Purasaivalakam. When I chose this house for my store, I wanted to retain almost all of its aesthetics, including excellent ceilings and floors, while still exposing it to natural light and adding glass between the porch and the house. This style is very unique, with its pillars and sides; It has to be displayed in its totality,” she explains, why.

As independent homes are increasingly being demolished to make way for high-rise apartments, a move is being made to record and preserve the city’s remaining Art Deco buildings. How do you recognize them? Simple lines, elaborate staircases, pillars with cornices, and wraparound balconies with concrete grilles are a common sight in the suburbs of Royapettah, Mount Road or Tyagaraja Nagar, telling the story of a bygone era.

The Art Deco movement influenced the United States and Europe through the years booked by two world wars, with the movement’s design elements gaining popularity among the city’s architects. Chennai’s romance with the Art Deco movement coincides with India’s War of Independence, when the Madras Presidency adopted an architectural style with clean lines, simplicity and a departure from the Victorian Gothic and Indo-Saracenic styles of the day.

One of the earliest Art Deco structures in Chennai was the Roypetta Clock Tower built in the 1920s, followed by the 1938-dated National Insurance Building at NSC Bose Road, designed by LM Chitale. Further down the street, the iconic Dare House was built in 1940 as the office of Parry’s Company (now Parry’s Corner).

State Bank of Mysore building in Chennai | photo credit: special arrangement

Sujatha Shankar, a Chennai-based architect and convener of the city’s INTACH chapter, recalls, “The movement was a new aesthetic, whose entry into India was delayed, but it lasted for a long time. It reflects the mindset of minimalism, freedom and resonates the mood of the people. Some residential buildings in Royapettah still have columns, balustrades and parapets, incorporating the Art Deco sunrise motif. Fake,

Chennai’s early buildings in the Art Deco style can also be seen along parts of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Road, starting at Eid Parry and the Esplanade area. “The old insurance and bank buildings had a ziggurat feature,” says Sujata. Addressing a corner along a curve was another hallmark seen in buildings in the older parts of the city. CIT Colony, Gandhinagar and the homes of old film stars also had strong deco elements: attractive floors, mosaics, stairs and balustrades with wooden balls on top. ,

United India Insurance Building | Photo Credit: BRS Shrinag

Ashmita Athreya, an architect and head of operations at Madras Inherited, a city-based initiative that works on heritage awareness, conservation and protection in the city, takes heritage walks through Triplain, Mylapore and T Nagar. “It’s fascinating to see Art Deco typefaces on buildings like Dare House. There are row houses on the road to Nadu in Mylapore Fake With sunburst elements, and we also see deco motifs in Broadway talkies and other buildings on NSC Bose Road. Athreya observed, the style was tricked into the rich as the landlord class tried to adopt this new architectural style, and, “as time was borrowed from the middle class, you find deco all over the city.”

This movement in Madras was short-lived. This was a time when concrete was first used, cantilever was constructed, and nautical motifs, such as portholes and curved balconies, first appeared in local residential buildings and office buildings. “The casino cinema hall, the Kamadhenu theatre, all had high vertical lines; Other buildings in Georgetown and the Esplanade feature some of the best features of the Deco movement such as the Olympic Ring, and the frozen fountain design. This movement also coincides with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt, so you find Egyptian motifs in deco buildings,” says Sujata Shankar.

While some buildings intended for business are still tall, historian V Sriram laments the decay and destruction of Art Deco residences in the city. “The movement was the worst victim of modernization in Chennai. Our Indo-Saracenic buildings are larger than life and hold a place of pride but in private spaces, deco is fast disappearing. RA has gone to many houses in Puram and Mandaveli. Meanwhile, Mumbai is doing a great job of saving its Art Deco section on Marine Drive.

Shriram suggests, “The transfer of development rights is a good way to stop the development of the property, even if it deprives the monetary benefit of letting the space out.” The transfer of development rights is a zoning technique that conserves land by redirecting development that would otherwise be suitable for intensive development on land to another area. In this way, Art Deco buildings can be saved while property owners are compensated by giving them real estate options in other parts of the city, even if their value is lower. This tool has been used in the Khotachiwadi and Bandra areas for the conservation of heritage buildings in Mumbai.

Ashmita talks about her home in Choolaimedu which follows the Art Deco style not only on its exterior but also on the interior. “Normally there was a small office as soon as you entered the house, for visitors to see, without encroaching on the whole space, the bathrooms were all the way back and you could see the whole house from a vantage point.” Constructed with lime mortar and Burmese and other strong teak, he believes maintenance can be difficult these days, “we don’t use lime mortar anymore, and these homes were built for large families. So aging couples whose families have migrated sometimes can’t keep them up. ,

Shriram calls for a public-private model to save buildings, as most families need additional income and are unwilling to preserve it, or are at risk of loss of rent. Noting that there is now a resurgence in the value of antique Art Deco items, from perfume bottles to furniture and vintage cars, Sriram says, “Some of these houses such as the Bedford Villa in Santhome are still standing but the people really You need to give importance to your homes. The way I see it, the value of assets only increases over time, and a higher price tag is just around the corner.

A Pair of Art Deco Armlets | photo credit: special arrangement