Madras Boat Club Adyar, 1900 Postcard

Madras Boat Club Adyar, 1900 Postcard

A 1900 postcard showing the Boat House or Madras Boat Club. One of the oldest rowing clubs in India, founded in 1867 by a group of Britishers. First started in the backwaters of Ennore which is around 20 km north of Parry’s Corner in Madras, now Chennai. By 1892 the Madras Boat Club’s location was shifted to the banks of the Adyar River where it has been operating ever since. It has been holding regular annual rowing regattas.

Once the threat of skirmishes from other colonial rulers and local chieftains subsided to a great extent, business activities started opening up. Many businesses and residential complexes moved away from Fort St George to Mount Road and North Beach Road. Likewise, club activities like that of the Madras Boat Club moved from Ennore to the more tranquil area of the Adyar River. It is just adjacent to one of India’s oldest clubs the Madras Club. Shown on the extreme left in white is the building of the Madras Club with its famous cupola.

Did you know- the area adjoining the clubhouse is the most expensive locality in South India today.

From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s Wife Bhageerathi, Rare 1870 Photo., Electric Trams of Madras 1930- Old Photo., Dead Monarch And The New, Glimpse of British India In 1910., Aden, Bombay, Madras & Calcutta – Vintage Map 1910.