The Indo-Saracenic architecture of buildings found across Chennai gives it

a distinct old-world charm.

KAMARAJAR SALAI along the Marina beach in Chennai is lined with a
clutch of majestic, red-bricked buildings with domes, towers, colonnades and
arches reminiscent of another era. They are the Senate House on the Madras
University premises; the old Chepauk Palace; additions to the old Chepauk
Palace, which are now called the Public Works Department (PWD) building;
and the Presidency College. They flaunt the Indo-Saracenic style of
architecture, which is an amalgam of Indian, Islamic and Moorish architectural
styles.
Adjacent to Parrys Corner, a popular landmark in Chennai, are three buildings
built in the Indo-Saracenic stylethose housing the Madras High Court, State
Bank of India (SBI), and the General Post Office (GPO).
Near the Chennai Central railway station is another cluster of buildings built in
the Indo-Saracenic style: the Victoria Public Hall, the erstwhile Moore Market,
and the Central railway station. The imposing Ripon Building (built in 1913)
nearby, housing the Corporation of Chennai, is not Indo-Saracenic but
neoclassical in style.
Less than two kilometres from the Central railway station is the Egmore railway
station, another example of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. Opposite
the Egmore railway station is a red-bricked building that houses the Tamil Nadu
Archives and Historical Research, which was formerly called the Record Office.
This was also built in the Indo-Saracenic style.
The British architect Robert Chisholm, who is called the father of the IndoSaracenic style, played a key role in designing several of these buildings.
However, Paul Benfield, who preceded Chisholm by almost a hundred years
and who designed the early buildings of the Chepauk Palace, was the first to
experiment with this hybrid form.
Sadly and mysteriously, fire has ravaged five of these Indo-Saracenic edifices in
the past 20 years. Moore Market was the first to go up in flameson May 31,
1995. Although it could have been restored, the Southern Railway decided to
demolish it and build in its place an unimaginative office complex. Next came
the fire in the GPO on October 24, 2010. Khalsa Mahal of the Chepauk Palace
went up in flames on January 16, 2012. Fire wrecked the SBI building on July
13 and Humayun Mahal on July 26 this year.
Hybrid style
The Indo-Saracenic is basically a hybrid style, which is European in plan but
has a blend of Islamic and Moorish influences as far as the superstructure of

columns, domes, arches and other ornamentation are concerned, said P.T.
Krishnan, a practising architect and a former convener of the Indian National
Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) in Chennai, who was in charge of
the Senate House restoration project. He is currently an active member of the
Tamil Nadu chapter of INTACH. He was responsible for bringing out the wellresearched book Madras: The Architectural Heritage, first published in January
2003 by INTACHs Tamil Nadu chapter.
The book, authored by K. Kalpana and Frank Schiffer, has a collection of essays
by city architects and historians. In his essay in the book, Krishnan calls the
Senate House the high point in the development of this style.
Krishnan explained to Frontline: Chisholm was apparently searching for a
language of architecture that would be European but at the same time Indian in
character. What the British considered Indian was basically Mughal
architecture. Mughal architecture, in turn, had influences of Persian architecture
and Islamic architecture. So the Indo-Saracenic architecture was basically a
hybrid one, evolved out of the desire of the architect and the colonial rulers to
give India what they thought was its own architecture and which was approved
by them. [For in their perception,] this would influence Indian architecture for
years to come because it incorporated the elements of British imperialism and
the local architecture and craftsmanship, giving it a unique form.
Historically, according to Krishnan, the first known Indo-Saracenic building is
the old part of the Chepauk Palace, comprising Khalsa Mahal and Humayun
Mahal. Paul Benfield reportedly designed the old Chepauk Palace for the
Nawab of Arcot in the 1760s. About 100 years later, Chisholm designed and
built the additions to the old Chepauk Palace. These additions, facing the
Marina beach, house the office of the State Public Works Department now. The
Senate House and Presidency College, situated along the beach, came up around
the same time. Chisholm designed the Senate House and also the Victoria Public
Hall. The Victoria Public Hall, flanked by the Ripon Building and the Central
railway station, is a fine example of the Indo-Saracenic style. These four
buildings were built between 1850 and 1900 . Thus, the high point of the IndoSaracenic style of architecture was in the second half of the 19th century,
Krishnan said.
Subsequently, said Krishnan, the style started changing. For example, the
Central railway station was not built in a purely Indo-Saracenic style. It has a
European facade. The small arches on the top are Indo-Saracenic in character
but the roof and the towers are late European classical. The original terminal,
designed by George Hardinge, was opened to the public in 1873. Modifications
and the addition of the clock tower were made by Chisholm almost two decades
later, notes the book.

Interestingly, the first building that Chisholm built was not an Indo-Saracenic
structure. It was not built in Madras either. It came up in Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala, and now houses the Government Museum. It looks nothing like the
Senate House or any of the known models of the Indo-Saracenic style. It is a
reinvention of the Kerala style of architecture and has a distinctly local flavour,
said Krishnan.
Subsequently, in Madras, Chisholm made an addition to the old Madras Club.
The timber framing of the roof, which is all that is left of the old structure,
points to an architectural character that is similar to that of the museum in
Thiruvananthapuram.
Krishnan said: Chisholm was interested in Indian architecture and crafts. The
British influence had to be predominant in the public buildings built at the
height of the British colonial era. If you look at the plans of the Chepauk
Palace and the Senate House, they are European in nature. They are
symmetrical and large in scale. They have colonnades. They are not like
traditional Indian plans which have a different architectural idiom.
The association with the European classical style ended there (that is, in the
buildings plans). Once you come to the facade, there are all kinds of influences.
Apparently, Chisholm was searching for a language of architecture that would
be European and at the same time Indian.
Chisholm was familiar with the Spanish/Moorish styles of architecture and
borrowed a lot from Moorish architecture. This explains why the facade of the
Indo-Saracenic buildings in Chennai have a lot of arches, a typical idiom of
Islamic architecture. Dravidian architecture never featured arches. It had beams,
lintels, chajja, and so forth. It was, therefore, easy for Chisholm to translate the
Mughal style and merge it with the European classical plan.
This plan could have colonnades and arches but the arches were not necessarily
Gothic. They were Islamic, Krishnan said. So a lot of these building
elements were picked up and superimposed on a European plan. That is where
the mix comes in, he explained. However, this style of architecture had no
connection with the Dravidian or local style of architecture except in its
ornamentation and bas-reliefs in the spandrels and column capitals. Apparently,
no effort was made to look beyond the Mughal influence in understanding
Indian architecture.
The ornamentation of the Senate House is equally interesting. In Krishnans
assessment, the ornamentation became a free for all. It was apparently left to
the the craftsman to do what he liked as long as he worked within the larger
format assigned to him. So the Senate House has a curious mix of spandrels,
classical Greek capital columns, carvings of Hindu gods and goddesses in the

traditional temple format, traditional Islamic lotus motifs and so on. Indeed, one
column has a Corinthian capital. Another has an Egyptian papyrus capital.
You should note the spontaneity in details, which you will not see in a
calculated and controlled design. In our temples also, the craftsman who carves
the stone has freedom of expression as long as it fits into the overall scheme of
the building. So is the case with the Senate House and many other IndoSaracenic buildings, where detailing was essentially left to the craftsmen
involved, Krishnan said.
The Senate House is typical of the Indo-Saracenic hybrid style and its four
towers are essentially an adaptation of chhatris, which were strong architectural
elements of Mughal buildings. These domes were not built the way domes were
built in Europe or in Mughal architecture. In Europe, during this period, domes
were built using copper and steel. They had an internal framework of steel
covered with copper sheeting. Copper becomes dark as it tarnishes over a period
of time. Since this technology was not available in India at that time, the
Senate Houses domes were Indianised in their construction, Krishnan said.
They have an internal framework of timber. The external skin is made of just
two-inch-thick brick tiles and lime plaster. This is an interesting aspect of how
the Indo-Saracenic architects Indianised the construction techniques as well, he
added.
The Senate House has a colourful interior too, with frescoes revealing the
Moorish influence.
Krishnan said: I will say the Senate House represents the high point in the
development of the Indo-Saracenic architecture. In the case of the Chepauk
Palace, attention had been paid only to the facade, whereas its ornamentation
and interior decoration, including frescoes, were not well developed and appear
plain. Since the Senate House was a ceremonial building, everything was
worked out in its detailing.
The imposing Senate House, which was meticulously restored by INTACHs
Tamil Nadu chapter, has gone shabby again. The University of Madras has not
put it to any great use since INTACH restored it in 2006. Nearly Rs.6 crores,
collected by the university and INTACH from the public, alumni and several
business houses based in the city, went into the restoration effort.
Such is the phobia of university officials towards the Senate House that they
declined to give permission to the Frontline photographer to take pictures of it!