111 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, a hundred unkept promises

Time is rapidly running out for the Bharat Insurance Building which survives on Mount Road in a decrepit state. Built in 1897, it is a landmark in Chennai, a symbol of the city’s heritage. However, in recent years, the building, owned by the Life Insurance Corporation of India, has become more a symbol of the losing battles heritage enthusiasts are fighting. Hope that the building will not be pulled down seems to hinge on an assurance given by finance minister P Chidambaram that he would instruct LIC not to bring it down. The building could be used as a training centre or even a museum, Chidambaram had said nearly three months ago during a book-release function in Chennai. When the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Tamil Nadu, got in touch with Chidambaram a few times thereafter, he said that he would inspect the building during his next visit, but that has not happened. “The roof and part of the building have been pulled down,” said S Muthiah, city historian and editor, Madras Musings. “We are awaiting a court ruling, but the court can only stop demolition, it cannot order reconstruction,” he added. About six years ago, PWD and CMDA engineers had inspected the building and found it sound, although they suggested that structural repairs be carried out quickly. “LIC plans to construct another building here and therefore has let this one go to seed, hoping it would fall down by itself. In spite of CMDA qualifying it as a Grade A heritage building and opposing its demolition, LIC went ahead and gave orders to pull the building down. About two years ago, we approached the Madras high court, but before the court could give its verdict, LIC went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court referred it back to the Madras high court and that is where the case lies,” said P T Krishnan, convenor, INTACH, TN. When asked whether INTACH had approached anybody in LIC, Krishnan said, “We have gone to everybody including the chairman in Mumbai. There has been no response to our letters,” he said. A riot of styles at Bharat Insurance Building At the junction of Mount Road and General Patters Road stands Bharat Insurance Building. Earlier known as Kardyl Building, it was designed by J H Stephen. It was constructed for W E Smith & Co. The building once had a showroom on the ground floor, and rooms for doctors and dentists, living quarters for staff, a café and a beer bar on the upper floors. Unable to withstand competition from Spencer’s opposite, Smith sold its business and building to its rival in 1925. In 1934, Spencer's found a buyer for the building — Bharat Insurance. According to ‘Madras: The Architectural Heritage’, an INTACH, Tamil Nadu publication authored by K Kalpana and Frank Schiffer, the building was designed in a multitude of styles, including Indo-Saracenic, with numerous elements combined rather randomly. Trapezoidal in plan, reflecting the shape of the site, the authors describe the two-floor structure as a collage of square and octagonal towers, with bell-shaped domes and fairy tale-like conical caps. The parapets were made up of numerous stepped gables, bas-reliefs and small arched openings, and a combination of semi-circular and segmental arches along the verandah.

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