Each August, with Madras Week being celebrated, heritage buildings in the city come into focus. In the initial years, it was a uniform lament — they were all being neglected. The tide has since changed with the State government leading the way. As I write this, I know that work is either ongoing or planned on at least eight important structures. Even the Central government seems to have woken up. According to sources, plans are afoot to do something about historic post-offices, and they include the GPO. The one edifice that presents a sharp contrast to all of this is Bharat Insurance Building on Anna Salai.
It began life with everything going for it. Constructed in the 1890s, it had a vantage location, for it faces the curve of Mount Road. Originally fronted by a triangular garden space, it must have been striking as pedestrians and motorists proceeded south. The architect, J.H. Stephen of the Madras PWD, threw in practically every feature of the Indo-Saracenic into it. It could have resulted in chaos, but it was a work of genius that brought everything into a harmonious whole. The completed edifice was known as Kardyl Building.
The structure was constructed for WE Smith & Co, one of the city’s well-known chemists, druggists, opticians, sellers of medical instruments and manufacturers of soda water. The building was unique in its conception — it had, apart from the offices of the company, rooms to let to practising doctors, dentists and opticians, a small auditorium and wonder of wonders, a tramway on the premises that transported the bottled soda water from the plant at the rear to the showroom in the front!
The building’s bad days began when it was acquired by Bharat Insurance Company, probably in the 1930s. By then, it had automobile showrooms as tenants and even the Automobile Association had its offices here. It was de rigueur then for those in insurance to put up art deco offices and the new owners were no different. The premises came up on the triangular patch fronting Kardyl Building, which became lost to sight and eventually lost its name as well, the whole premises now being referred to as Bharat Insurance Building.
Years of neglect led to the structure becoming increasingly derelict, but not unsound. The new owner post-nationalisation was the Life Insurance Corporation of India. Though this institution has undertaken exemplary restoration of heritage buildings in its fold elsewhere in the country, it chose to look the other way when it came to Bharat Insurance Building.
In the early 2000s, the tenants were asked to vacate and the LIC began demolition. The roof was dismantled and some of the pillars were brought down before the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) approached court and obtained a stay. That led to a broader look at Chennai’s heritage and eventually, the High Court of Madras declared that the building be preserved.
Along with it, 400-odd other structures were beneficiaries. They were listed for the first time and the CMDA was asked to notify them. That work is still ongoing — the mills of the government move slowly. The LIC covered the building with tarpaulin and left it at that. That was its interpretation of ‘preservation’. But of restoration activities, there has been none. For over 13 years now, the building is without a roof but still standing, a testimony to its structural soundness.
With heritage conservation now being viewed positively, will the LIC have a change of heart?
