Marina & Senate House Madras 1900s – 5 Old Postcards
Five old 1900s photo postcards showing the Marina and Senate House In Madras, now Chennai. The Marina Promenade starts from the mouth of the River Cooum. Then stretches right down along the seafront to the old Portuguese town of San Thome in Mylapore. On the left is the beautiful Marina Beach.
Visible is the Senate House, and a portion of the Chepauk Palace that is just behind (see first postcard). Marine Villa stood near the mouth of the River Cooum. The villa was part of the Nawab’s Chepauk Palace. The handsome red Senate House commands a captivating view of the sea. The Madras University Senate House as it was called was designed by Robert Chisholm.
It is of the Indo-Saracenic architectural style. The work on the building commenced in 1874 and was completed in 1879. At one time it had a beautiful white marble statue of Queen-Empress Victoria on its southern side. Gifted by the then Raja Goday Narayana Gajapathi Rao. As a golden jubilee memorial of Queen Victoria in 1887. The statue was displaced after India’s independence. Click on the photo for better view.
See my earlier post Chepauk Palace In Chennai – Old Photo 1895
Did you know- that the then Governor of Chennai Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff was responsible in the creation of the Marina in 1881.
From the collection- 11 Picture Postcards On Raja Ravi Varma Oil Paintings., British Regiment Parade In Bangalore – Old Photo 1928., Mahatma Gandhi On The Streets of Bombay – Old Print 1932., Vintage Book 1925 – John L. Stoddard’s Lectures On India
