Egmore
Railway Station
The entire area south of Periyar EVR High Road (earlier known
as Poonamallee High Road) and the curve of the Cooum river is
known as Egmore. This was originally a small village that the
East India Company acquired in the 17th century, as it began to
expand its territories. Egmore was also one of the earliest residential
localities, where wealthy company merchants built palatial homes
surrounded by luxuriant garderns - the so - called "garden
houses" that were extremely popular in colonial Chennai.
The Government college of Arts and Crafts, founded in 1850, stands
on Periyar EVR High road. This striking Gothic building and its
art gallery were built by Robert Fellowes Chisholm, who was also
appointed its superintendent (principal) in 1877. Its first Indian
principal, Debi Prasad Roy Chowdhary, was a renowed painter and
sculptor in the 1950s. The artists' village at Cholamandal was
established by bis successor, Dr KCS Panicker. Today the prestigious
Government College is one of India's foremost art schools. Its
gallery has regular exhibitions of contemparary painting and sculpture
by artists and students.
To its west is the Egmore Railway Station, another of Chisholm's
architectural gems. This is a handsome building, constructed in
Indo - Saracenic style, with unconventional flattish domes and
pointed arches. The station, operational since the early 20th
century, connects Chennai with the rest of Tamil Nadu and the
south.
Today Egmore is the up - market commercial heart of Chennai, a
concrete jungle of offices, department stores, boutiques and hotels.
On Pantheon Road are the largest showrooms of Co - Optex a unit
of Tamil Nadu Handloom Textiles Cooperative, which sells handwoven
silk and cotton saris and fabrics from the state. |
