Senate House And Napier Bridge Madras, 2 PCs 1910
Two old 1910 photo postcards of the Senate House and Napier Bridge in Madras (Chennai). The first postcard shows the Napier Bridge, Marine Villa, Senate House, and a partial view of the Chepauk Palace. The second shows the Napier Bridge, Senate House, and a toddy palm. Shown is the River Cooum, the area is the mouth of the river where it flows into the sea.
The famous Marina Beach lies in front. Lord Napier arrived to govern the Madras Presidency in 1866. One of his projects was improving the bridge across the mouth of the River Cooum. It linked the road in front of Fort St George to Triplicane and San Thome. The first reference to the bridge across the Cooum mouth is in 1721. It was called the Triplicane Bridge then. This bridge, regularly damaged by cyclones, was called the Island Bridge in 1778.
Rebuilt in 1805 and called St George’s Bridge till Napier had it rebuilt. As automobiles made its presence felt, a stronger bridge was needed. Thus the iron-constructed bridge gave way to a concrete one in the later years. More interestingly the Nawab’s Marine Villa in white is visible in both. Although a little obscure in one of the pictures. Marine Villa survived until 1930. The four-domed Senate House is clearly visible in both.
Did you know – the first British Government House was located in the estate adjacent to the Marine Villa.
From the collection – M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal On Paper Beautiful Lady (#6)., First Airmail Service London-Karachi 1929, Old Photo ., Early Aviation Biplane In British India Era 1913., British Indian Empire 1903 Vintage Map.
