Victoria Memorial Hall & Moore Market Madras, 1910 PC
A 1910 postcard of t.The Victoria Memorial Hall and Moore Market of Madras (Chennai). Later known as the Victoria Public Hall. Constructed in 1890 to honour Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. This massive building with its high tower served as a public gathering and a theater. Dramas and plays were a regular event in the hall.
However, most gatherings were mainly of the political type. Nationalist leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Sardar Patel, etc, had addressed meetings in Victoria Memorial Hall. It is located adjacent to the old Moore Market as can be seen in this postcard. It is also in close proximity to the Central Railway Station, and the Ripon Building, Asia’s oldest municipality.
Fort St George, from where the city originated, is further down the road. Robert Fellowes Chisholm, had designed the building. Chisholm had designed the GPO and Senate House in the city. Chennai Corporation had plans in 2021 to revive the hall as a heritage building and a museum. The Moore Market shown preceding the Victoria Memorial Hall looks exceptionally beautiful. A red building constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style.
It was designed by E E Ellis, a municipal engineer in then British-era municipality. Named after Lt. Col. Sir George Moore, president of the Madras Municipality. Colonel Moore shut down the unhealthy bazaar in George Town. Relocated the hawkers to the new red market building later named after him. Unfortunately, the building was burned down mysteriously in 1985. Rumored to be a deliberate act although not entirely substantiated.
Did you know – there is a scaled-down model of the once famous Moore Market in its place but it is now in utter neglect. To read more go to A Neglected Monument.
Past posts – ‘Farmhouse’ British-India Watercolour Painting 1940., Tiny Resident of British Era Bangalore, 1890 Photo ., British India Era Social Life In Madras & Poona, Old 1910 Print., British India General Insurance Company Car Policy 1936.
