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    Chennai's Colonial Residuals

    By amlocke
    Sep 13, '12 12:14 AM EST

    The city of Chennai is wrought with old English bones. Her skeletons- abashed at times, Zelig-esk, & effete- are filled with program of the most considerable kind, of which, at times concurs with its original intent. By trial and error, it seems architects searched for the proper edifice in which to display Western Exceptionalism. Amongst the steadfast fort walls, Neoclassical cathedral, Neomughal, and Byzantine, a hybrid called Indo-Saracenic may be found. It cloaks itself with western grandiosity, but cannot hide its onion domes and pointed arches. A true fit for the occasion, or a defilement of something already perfected?  Equivocal as one may be, perhaps if it must subsist, it is best when it does so in Chennai, as this is the seed to which the tree of British colonial rule sprung.

    The Northern Gate of Fort St. George 

    Georgetown Post Office

    Senate House of Madras University

    Operable doors allow for natural ventilation

    St. Andrew's Kirk



     
    • 2 Comments

    • x-jla

      wholeness?

      Sep 13, 12 1:37 pm  · 
       · 
      Thayer-D

      eurocentric?

      Sep 13, 12 2:27 pm  · 
       · 

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About this Blog

An Indo Inquisition is a thirteen-week train expedition across India. The journey will document the influences of international modernism and British occupation, as well as compare the effects of wealth accumulation, culture, religion, and poverty with economic growth and their effect on the built environment.

Authored by:

  • amlocke

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