Shaw Wallace Building – A Survivor of Old Madras

George Town has some magnificent heritage buildings. It also has many smaller ones that can easily escape our attention.

The Shaw Wallace Building on Thambu Chetty Street belongs to the second category.

Dating back to the 1890s, this elegant Indo-Saracenic building has survived for well over a century in one of the busiest commercial parts of Chennai. Unlike many old structures that have either disappeared or fallen into disuse, the Shaw Wallace Building continues to house offices and other commercial activities even today.

That, for me, makes it more interesting.

The building takes its name from Shaw Wallace & Company, the old British-era business house established in India in 1886. The company had interests in several businesses and maintained an important presence in Madras.

Architecturally, the building is not massive or imposing. It does not compete with the nearby High Court or some of the grand public buildings of George Town.

Instead, it has its own charm.

Its Indo-Saracenic character, proportions and old-fashioned façade make it stand apart from the tightly packed modern commercial structures surrounding it. It has also been identified as one of Chennai's Grade 2A heritage buildings.

Thambu Chetty Street itself was part of the thriving commercial heart of the original Madras. Merchants, shipping firms, lawyers, banks and trading establishments operated from this part of George Town for generations.

The Shaw Wallace Building still belongs to that world.

You may pass it in a few seconds while negotiating the traffic and crowds of George Town. But stop and look up.

A small piece of nineteenth-century Madras is still doing business there.

Happy travelling.