The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Roof restored, focus now on walls of Senate House

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 12, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Roof restored, focus now on walls of Senate House

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JULY 11. With around two-and-a-half crores of rupees collected through donations so far, and four crores more needed, University of Madras and its partners have formed a trust to streamline and speed up collection of funds to restore the historic Senate House.

Registered a couple of weeks ago, the Senate House Restoration and Maintenance Trust is headed by the Vice-Chancellor, S.P. Thyagarajan. It will be responsible for all aspects of the restoration of the Indo-Saracenic style building constructed in 1873. The Trust will also raise and manage funds and take care of maintenance of the Senate House in future.

"This is a unique partnership between a public institution, Madras University, and non-governmental organisations — Willingdon Trust, Chennai Heritage and INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage)," said historian S. Muthiah at a press conference here today.

According to the Vice-Chancellor, the work on the building is progressing satisfactorily.

The first phase of restoring the roof was completed in November. Now the focus is on the walls: Removing paint to expose the original frescoes, replacing the wall's cement plaster with lime and restoring the brickwork.

"During the Victorian era, all buildings had colourful interiors. But it seems this went out of style in the early 20th century when in many places, including the National Gallery in London and the Senate House in Chennai, the walls were whitewashed," said P.T. Krishnan, Convener of INTACH.

The team is now restoring the interiors by removing the layers of paint and plaster to reveal the original wall. Replastering is done wherever necessary, with the same materials that were used when it was first built. Efforts to restore the timber-framed dome and the wooden doors are also underway.

The conservationists hope to finish the work on the northwestern quadrant of the building first.

So far about Rs. 1.2 crores has been spent. Restoration of stained glass will be the next area of focus, according to Mr. Krishnan. Conforming to international principles of heritage conservation, the team is trying to stay as close to the original as possible, re-using materials and doing repairs on site.

"Before Music Academy, Senate House was the place for music festivals, cultural programmes and other social activities," said Mr. Thyagarajan.

If all goes well, the Senate House will be ready by December 2005 in time for the university's 150th year anniversary celebrations in 2006-2007. He appealed to the public to contribute, particularly alumni of the University of Madras.

"Even if two lakh alumni contribute Rs. 200 each, we will meet the requirements," he said.

Donations may be sent to the Registrar, Senate House Conservation Fund Account, University of Madras, Chennai - 600005.

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