Chennai Central Railway Station Without The Clocks 1874
Old 1874 photo of the newly built Chennai Central Railway Station without the clocks. Earlier called “Madras Central Railway Station” before the name change. What is unusual is the missing clocks on the famous clock tower. See the photo and its close-ups. Here the station displays an empty clock bay on the clock tower.
This was perhaps because the building was incomplete at the time of taking this photo or perhaps the four clocks took time to arrive from England. We will not know the exact reason. George Hardinge, a British architect designed the main building in the style of Gothic and Romanesque architecture. Yet another architect Robert Chisholm designed the clock tower of the building.
Chisholm was the pioneer of Indo-Saracenic style architecture. The Chennai Central Railway Station initially started with four platforms, primarily to decongest the Royapuram station’s traffic at that time. The Royapuram Station was the first in South India and the main station. Completed in 1874 the Madras Central became the main station in 1907 in the south of India. Click on the photo for better view.
Did you know- the station includes the five caps on the roof that were inspired by the Travancore (Kerala) style caps.
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Mohini On A Swing” – Vintage Print 1930s., Birds-Eye-View of Benares – Old Postcard 1900., Our Journey Around The World – 1894 Book
The images are of the actual items from my collection. And Not a photocopy, pirated, reproduced, stock photos, or taken from other sources.
