Ripon Building

Ripon Building is the seat of the Chennai Corporation (Madras Corporation) in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu. This is a fine example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, a combination of three types of architectural styles - Gothic, Ionic and Corinthian.

The Ripon Building is white in colour and is located near the Central station in Chennai. Commissioned in 1913, it was built by Loganatha Mudaliar. It took 4 years to build at a cost of ₹ 750,000. Ripon building was named after Lord Ripon, Governor-General of British India and the Father of local self-government. Earl of Minto, the then Viceroy and Governor General of India laid the foundation on 12 December 1909.

The Municipal Corporation of Madras, after functioning from several other places, settled at Ripon building in 1913, with P.L. Moore as the President of the Municipal Corporation at the time of the inauguration.

Building details

• The building is rectangular and is 85 meters long and 32 metres wide.
• The first of its three floors offers about 2,800 square metres of space.
• Its central tower is 43 metres tall and has a clock 2.5 metres in diameter.
• The walls were constructed with stock bricks, set and plastered with lime mortar.
• The roofs are supported with teak wood joists. The original flooring of the ground floor was Cuddapah Slate. This has now been replaced with marble.
• One of the main attractions of the building is the Westminster Quarter chiming clock. This was installed by Oakes and Co. in 1913. The clock has a mechanical key system, which is wound every day. There are a total of 4 bells, which were cast by Gillet and Johnston in 1913.

References

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• The Fist Corporation - The Hindu, Apr 02, 2003
• Ripon Building - Chennai