ABSTRACT
Chapter 7, ‘Buildings’, deals with some public buildings for their environmental greenery. They are the Fort House, Govt. House, Admiralty House, the Pantheon, Custom House, and Lighthouse followed by castles and some palaces. The Fort House was probably the oldest building of Madras. It was largely extended, renovated, repaired, and rebuilt every now and then till the end of the 18th century. Almost the same was the case with the EIC Garden House which was developed later into the Govt. House. Edward Clive, son of Robert Clive, the last governor of the century, had largely remodelled it by constructing upper floor, halls and additional rooms. The Admiralty House was purchased from Shawmier Sultan, an Armenian merchant, and extended so as to accommodate the steadily increasing number of retiring naval Admirals. The Pantheon was a large private estate in Egmore called Public Rooms which was used to celebrate functions and organised dances and ‘lavish Balls’. Later it was converted into the Madras Museum with the present Connemara National Library. Custom House was first located near the Sea Gate of the Fort; it was moved later into the nearby Black Town only after prolonged controversies and unrest. The Lighthouse was built in the last quinquennium of the century after many requests expecting sufficient returns through a tax imposed on the masted ships. Leith Castle (1759), Brodie Castle (1795), and the redoubts at Santhome and Egmore were the large defence buildings. All the public buildings were surrounded by sufficient greenery, and some of them had maintained large gardens in their compounds.
