Deccan Chronicle         23.10.2013

Heritage buildings listed for posterity

Chennai: In an attempt to conserve Chennai’s past heritage and glory, the Chennai metropolitan development authority (CMDA) has finalised the first set of 66 heritage buildings to be conserved, and the list, according to sources, has been sent to the state government for approval.

The next list of 48 buildings, which includes several private buildings, will be ready in three months. The Madras high court constituted the Justice E. Padmanabhan committee in 2006 to identify heritage buildings in the city.

The committee listed 467 buildings. Later, in 2010, based on the orders of the high court, the CMDA constituted the heritage conservation committee (HCC) to recommend conservation measures to owners of the buildings.

The HCC made a list of 66 buildings in the first phase, which the CMDA’s board cleared and has sent to state government for approval.

“The HCC has started work to list an additional 48 buildings and the work is expected to be completed in three months,” the sources said, adding that it would take a year to complete listing all 467 buildings.

The first list contains the names of buildings like Theosophical Society headquarters building, King’s Institute of Preventive Medicine, College of Engineering — main building — Anna University, Birla Planetarium, Lakshmi Narayanan temple, Erukunchery, and Armenian church.

The second list will include Chennai Central and Egmore railway stations and several private heritage buildings.