Sweeping cantilever canopies, ornate grilles catching the light, and fluted columns.Did you know that one of Chennai’s finest examples of Art Deco heritage lies not in a theatre or an apartment block? It takes the shape of a newspaper office.My office to be precise.K Purnachandran, one of The Hindu’s most familiar faces in the security department, says that he distinctly remembers the emotion that swept over him on his first day at work 20 years ago. “When I walked into this cream-white office after spending 17 years in the Army, I thought that it looked stately. Like a colonial-era administrative building.”KG Gurumurthy, who heads the pre-press department, says when he was a junior employee, the premises looked like a venerated institution — one that demanded reverence. “I still feel that way when I enter the space,” he says.Call it deference, call it prejudice. The fact remains — Kasturi Buildings, home of The Hindu since 1939, dotting the arterial Mount Road stretch, is one of Chennai’s few commercial Art Deco heritage structures, still in active use.
A view of The Hindu office today.
| Photo Credit:
M Srinath
An article from the newspaper’s archives dated December 7, 1939, two weeks after the newspaper shifted its base to the location from its first home down the road (since 1878), states that H Fellowes Prynne, the architect of the building intended to create a soft charm and a quiet dignity — one that would hold the eye of the visitor and delight the heart.Its beauty, hence, lies not just in its enormity but also in its clean-cut vertical lines; extensive use of geometric patterns; ability to usher in light; and allowing for perfect symmetry. If you observe with a keen eye, and let yourself indulge in a Midnight in Paris-esque moment of transporting yourself back to the Roaring 20s, you might see much of Chennai going back to the days where new buildings were replete with columns, sunbursts, and motifs. Some prominent remnants continue to line the city’s central business district, reminding us of an architectural style that marked the beginning of a global, capitalistic innovation.Deconstruction
