Royapettah

Royapettah is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India.

Location Royapettah is located at the central part of the city of Chennai, with an elevation of 9 m (29 ft.) above mean sea level. The neighbourhood comes under Teynampet Zone (number 9) and ward number 118 (old number 112) of the Chennai Corporation.

Boundaries Royapettah is bounded in the direction of Northwest by Nungambakkam, North by Chintadripet, Northeast by Chepauk, West by Gopalapuram, East by Triplicane, Southwest by Teynampet, South by Mylapore and Southeast by Marina Beach.

History

Royapettah, along with the suburbs of Nungambakkam and Teynampet, was part of the Great Choultry Plain, as the British had it in their records back in 1721. Soon after the arrival of the British in the city in the early 17th century, a large Eurasian population started settling in Royapettah and surrounding regions in the 17th and 18th centuries. Muslim settlements started appearing in the neighbourhood from the latter half of the 18th century. In 1798, the British East India Company constructed the Amir Mahal to house its administrative offices. When the Company annexed the Carnatic kingdom in 1855 with the Doctrine of Lapse, the Chepauk Palace, the official residence of the Nawabs, was auctioned off and purchased by the Madras government. The Nawab moved to a building called Shadi Mahal on Triplicane High Road and lived there. However, the British granted the Amir Mahal to the Prince of Arcot and the office building was soon converted into a palace by Robert Chrisholm. In 1876, the Nawab moved in with his family into the Amir Mahal, which has since been the residence of the Nawabs of Arcot.

The Purification Church was apparently the first church built in the neighbourhood around 1769. However, this was replaced in 1848 by the Presentation Church, also known as the Wallajahpet Church. This was built on a 21-ground plot granted by the Nawab in 1813. The Subramania Swamy Temple located adjacent to the church was built around 1889 in the area now known as Zam Bazaar. The Thousand Lights Mosque was built in 1810. In 1819, the first Methodist chapel in India was opened in Royapettah by the Methodist missionary James Lynch who settled down in the neighbourhood a year before. The church grew into the Wesley Church, which was dedicated in 1853.

In 1819, the Madras Eye Infirmary (MEI) was founded in the neighbourhood. It remains the oldest specialist eye hospital in Asia and the second oldest in the world. Modelled on Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, the hospital was moved to Egmore in 1884 and became the Government Ophthalmic Hospital in 1886. The Government Royapettah Hospital was opened in 1911. The first superintendent of the hospital was Col. C. Donovan.

In 1858, Monahan Girls' School, one of the oldest Protestant schools, was opened in Royapettah. In 1928, the neighbourhood had one of the earliest school for physical education in the Wesley School. The Royapettah post office appeared in 1834 as a subsidiary of the General Post Office at George Town. With the opening of the Woodlands Hotel in 1938 and the Modern Hindu Hotel on General Patter's Road, the neighbourhood became the home to the first Indian-style, vegetarian hotels in the city.

In the 1930s, a clock tower was built in the neighbourhood. Gani and Sons, formerly known as the South India Watch Company, provided the clock instrument for the clock tower.

By the middle of the 20th century, Anna Salai had become the hub of automobile manufacturers in South India, including conglomerates such as Simson, Addison Motor Company, Royal Enfield, South India Automotive Company, George Oaks of the Amalgamations Group, Standard Motor Products of India, and TVS Motor Company. This, coupled with low rental rates in the nearby streets, resulted in automobile spare manufacturers and dealers opening shops in the region, including Pudupet, Chintadripet, General Patters Road, Whites Road, State Bank Street and so forth. General Patters Road became the hub of automobile service and spare dealers. This resulted in the region coming to be called The Detroit of India.

Roads and street names

The road network of Royapettah developed substantially during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as Madras expanded beyond the older settlements surrounding Fort St George. The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority records that Royapettah High Road was among the roads formed to provide access to the new residential areas occupied during this expansion. Several adjoining roads retained the names of military officers, civil servants and property owners associated with colonial Madras, while others were subsequently renamed after Indian political, literary and theatrical figures.

Historical road and street names in Royapettah Road or street Namesake or origin Historical background Whites Road J. D. White White obtained a grant of land in 1809 and built a house on the property. In 1832 the house became the nucleus of the Madras Club, which remained associated with the site until after Indian independence. The former club property later formed part of the Express Estate, on which Express Avenue was subsequently developed. Patullo's Road Archibald Erskine Patullo The road connecting Mount Road with Whites Road was named after Captain Archibald Erskine Patullo. He entered the Madras Cavalry in 1802, became a captain in 1818 and died in 1824 while commanding the Body Guard. In 1822 he occupied Hick's Bungalow, which later became part of the Madras Club estate. Wood's Road Edward Wood Wood entered the Madras civil service in 1800 and became Registrar of the Sudder Court in 1811. By 1822, while serving as Chief Secretary to Government, he owned a residence on the road. The house was subsequently converted into the Castle Hotel. General Patters Road John Pater The road was named after John Pater of the Madras Cavalry. He was a captain by 1784, became a major-general in 1805 and died at Madras in 1817 with the rank of lieutenant-general. The road later became particularly associated with automobile repair and spare-parts businesses during the twentieth century. Its alignment subsequently formed part of Thiru Vi Ka Salai. Westcott Road George Westcott Westcott entered the Madras civil service in 1764 and later became a senior member of the Board of Trade. His father, Foss Westcott, had been one of the commissioners appointed to receive Madras from the French in 1749. George Westcott died at Madras in 1809. The former Westcott Road now forms part of Thiru Vi Ka Salai. Royapettah High Road Royapettah Unlike several adjoining roads, its name was geographical rather than commemorative. The road was formed as Madras expanded into the residential areas beyond the older town, providing an important north–south route through Royapettah. Together with the former General Patters Road and Westcott Road, portions of it were later incorporated into Thiru. Vi. Ka. Salai. Peters Road Possibly Captain Thomas Peters Historical street-name records suggest that the road may have been named after Captain Thomas Peters of Madras, who died in 1798; the identification is not recorded as certain. Pycrofts Street Sir Thomas Pycroft Pycrofts Street, which branches from the former Pycrofts Road, derived its name from Sir Thomas Pycroft. He entered the East India Company's civil service in 1829, served at the Madras Presidency from the 1840s and became a member of the Madras Legislative Council in 1862. The adjoining Pycrofts Road was later renamed Bharathi Salai. Lloyds RoadAvvai Shanmugam Salai T. K. Shanmugam Lloyds Road was subsequently renamed Avvai Shanmugam Salai after actor and theatre personality T. K. Shanmugam, who lived in the locality. Royapettah and the adjoining streets became an important residential area for Tamil stage and film personalities during the twentieth century; M. G. Ramachandran also lived on Lloyds Road for a period. V. P. Raman Salai V. P. Raman In 2023, the eastern portion of Avvai Shanmugam Salai, extending from Kamarajar Salai to the vicinity of the Indian Bank headquarters, was renamed V. P. Raman Salai after lawyer V. P. Raman, a former Additional Solicitor General of India whose residence, Lloyds Corner, stood on the road.

Demographics As of Census of India 2011, the total population of Royapettah was 14,912, including 7,444 males and 7,468 females.

Politics Royapettah comes under the Thousand Lights Assembly constituency and the Chennai Central Lok Sabha constituency. The suburb hosts the headquarters of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, an Indian regional political party founded by the former chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. G. Ramachandran. The headquarters, known as the Puratchi Thalaivar M.G.R. Maaligai, is located at V. P. Raman Salai.

Facilities The Government Royapettah Hospital, which serves as the chief healthcare institution in the neighbourhood, is the city's largest peripheral hospital and its limit extends up to Chengalpattu. Second in the government sector next only to the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, the Royapettah Government Hospital has a full-fledged emergency department, including triage area, resuscitation bay and colour-coded zones, per the Tamil Nadu Accident and Emergency Care Initiative (TAEI) guidelines.

Transportation Located centrally within the city, Royapettah is well connected to other neighbourhoods of Chennai, with several bus routes passing through it. Whites road, Avvai Shanmugam Salai and Royapettah High Road are the primary streets in the neighbourhood. The city's arterial Anna Salai tangentially touches the western periphery of the neighbourhood. Royapettah has a flyover on Royapettah High Road. There are plans to build a 5-kl/day sewage treatment plant along the pliers of the flyover and is under construction.

Royapettah is served by the LIC and Thousand Lights metro stations on the Blue Line of the Chennai Metro, which runs along the western periphery of the neighbourhood. The Royapettah metro station on the Purple Line of the Chennai Metro is under construction.

Adjacent communities

Royapettah

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