Madurai Heritage Club,Madurai

The Madurai Club is an architectural master piece by Architect Geoffry Bawa .The huge restored place stands silently in Madurai in atucked away street .  Heres the story of how it all began...Martin Henry was appointed general manager of Madurai Mills  in 1970. At the time the large thread-making company based in and around Madurai ran two staff clubs: the Madurai Club in the centre of the town was exclusively European , while the Garden Club in the suburb of Kochadai was for Indian staff.Made entirely from materials found within a few kilometres of the site. Bawa rose to the challenge and proposed that the structural columns should be of honey-coloured stone quarried from the local Nagamalai Hill and that stone slabs from an old mill should be used for the floors. Henrys travelled up to Karaikudi where they bought 2 old Chettinad doors, a set of 4 old carved stone columns and a miniature temple cart, all of which were incorporated into the new club. Work finally started on site in January 1973 and the completed building opened in January 1975.Although the design is deceptively simple, it succeeds through the subtlety of its spatial organization, the care with which spatial hierarchies are set up and the connection of exterior, interior and semi-interior spaces through axial views.Restoration of the Madurai Club was fittingly awarded to Bawa’s disciple, Sri Lankan architect and prodigy Vinod Jayasinghe. Maintaining Bawa’s unique style and most of the material he had used, Jayasinghe restored the resort to its former glory.

Some stays are always unprecedented and just like that.A days stay here was also the same way!The town of Madurai and Madurai Meenakshi temple stays close to our minds right from the initial days of marriage.The passenger train which took us to Madurai and together we visited the temple and then took our journey to kodai hills..So madurai is first love and togetherness for us.Any trip to this place can only be celebrated !

illustrations and images from the book courtesy:David Robson

the alley and pillars

this place is a converted lawn

interiors of the lobby 2013

interiors in 1970

the entrance to the office

villas ..

lights antique 

at night

shadows and the granite pillars outside the room

the room

the plunge pool

coolness of the shadows and breeze from the neem tree

one door in the restaurant

restaurant

the antique chettinad door

the lobby area

lotus pools near the entrance

its alleys are  beautiful..

shadows outside the lobby..lotus 

Image and Text Courtesy: Lakshmi Arvind,David Robson,Archnet,Thomas and Hudson
please do not copy images nor save them without permission

Monsoon at Fort Kochi explored..

Monsoons in all its glory down south and there we went exploring walking,getting drenched,drinking many a chai,walking through the scores of antique shop,getting the best we wanted..seeing all that we wanted,coz we will be here only after an year.

There were many a monsoons spent here down south..I think i need to to be a regular and tell you all the ups and downs of our journeys,in search of the perfect decor true to each place.From today on let me share some of our stories down south..the stories of the monsoon vacations..Monsoon takes you in to unknown journeys,make you dream all that you can..I did sincerely hope that the journeys become a sort of unending.But journeys have to end ,for you to take up new ones:)-

The many monsoon moods at Fort Kochi. We walked all the lanes of Fort Kochi, still there seemed more,in all the lanes and alleys still, when i left i thought i had left so much behind..that's the secret of FortKochi. I think i will never finish seeing Fort Kochi in my lifetime.

I think Fort Kochi is the one and only place which leaves you with its old world secrets.This time it was much more than a regular visit from Ernakulam. We decided to see the monsoon in all kinds of its moods at Fort Kochi. What if that meant staying at Fort Kochi for some days:)-

It was at ease this time in Fort Kochi,we explored each street by street what it had to offer,studied all its side streets and alleyways.The old world shops,the old world charm left behind by generations,the many weeping colours of walls,the heritage mansions and the plumerias all filled to its brim..and that's Fort Kochi.

 Fort Kochi  is still a small place but i really do not know whether you could fit watching all this in a day..Life doesn't get any better than this than at Fort Kochi.

as we walked the length and breadth of fortkochi

the tree must be more than a hundred years old

the petercelli street near the synagogue

the rain forest lodge,an initiative of the owner of the old harbour

murals on the walls

the lanes in the morning a weary look

the lily street famous for its redplumerias where anokhi and dal roti are..

under the tree

menu on the walls

vasco cafe

the old harbour

on the way to "kashi"

burgher street

hanging chimes

the old courtyard

waltons homestay

book stores in plenty

the peeling paints and old world charm

open windows

old courtyard

the one and only antique shop in fortkochi

loafers corner

the burgher street

and finally the david hall..near the Malabar house

there are lots more and lots more..i know its a picture packed blog post after some ages..i do hope you will travel with me to more and more of south..


all images Lakshmi Arvind..please ask permission to use them