Vivekanandar Illam

Vivekanandar Illam
Vivekanandar Illam
Location in Chennai
Former names	Ice House
General information
Status	In use
Type	Museum
Location	Triplicane, Chennai
Town or city	Chennai
Country	India
Coordinates	13°02′57″N 80°16′49″E / 13.04917°N 80.28028°E / 13.04917; 80.28028
Current tenants	Ramakrishna Mission
Topped-out	1842
Owner	Government of Tamil Nadu
Technical details
Floor count	2

Vivekanandar Illam, earlier known as Ice House or Castle Kernan, is a historical building in Chennai, India. It was constructed in 1842 by Frederic Tudor. Indian Saint Swami Vivekananda stayed in the building when he visited Chennai in 1897, and it was later renamed in his honor. It is currently maintained by Ramakrishna Math and houses an exhibition on the life of Vivekananda.

History

In 1842, Frederic Tudor constructed the building facing the Bay of Bengal as a facility to store ice. In 1880, the business collapsed and the building was sold to Biligiri Iyengar, an advocate in the Madras High Court. Iyengar re-modeled the house and named it Castle Kernan after his friend and judge in Madras High Court.^[1] When Swami Vivekananda visited Madras in 1897, he stayed in the building between 6 and 14 February 1897. Later, Ramakrishna Math functioned from the building from 1897 to 1906.^{[citation needed]}

In 1914, the building was acquired by the Government of Madras and functioned as a hostel and training school for children run by R. S. Subbalakshmi. In 1963, on the birth Centenary of Swami Vivekananda, the Government of Tamil Nadu renamed the building as 'Vivekanandar Illam' meaning 'Vivekananda House' in Tamil. In 1997, Government of Tamil Nadu leased the building to Ramakrishna Math, and it currently houses an exhibition on the life of Swami Vivekananda.^[2]

See also

• Heritage structures in Chennai

References

External links

• vivekanandahouse.org, Vivekananda House, Chennai
• Lonely Planet Review on Vivekananda House

This page was last edited on 20 March 2023, at 16:45