Photos of Chettinad House Designs in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu
In the 19th and early 20th centuries Chettinad was the home to the Nattukottai Chettiars (Nagarathar), a prosperous banking and business community. The rich migrated to Sri Lanka and Burma. There are many who migrate to USA, Singapore and Malaysia. Today, what remains are the old mansions of these rich families.
Various Chettinad House Designs
The typical features are wide courtyards, spacious rooms, and tiled floors which are extraordinarily beautifully designed. The construction materials used were classy and expensive. The residents there imported decorative items and furnishings mostly from East Asian countries and Europe. The marble was brought from Italy, chandeliers and teak from Burma, crockery from Indonesia, crystals from Europe and wall-to-wall mirrors from Belgium. The wood- and stone-work was inspired by the great houses in France and other European countries. You can imagine how rich they were!
Today, their family members, distant relatives who are left behind have pulled down these huge mansions. Many of them who have not done too well in their lives or are disinterested in their ancient heritage have leveled these huge mansions. Some have sold off the property after ripping these mansions of their expensive fittings. Few have converted them to hotels and home stays and do business in a decent manner.
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I visited a few Chettinad houses there which are open to public and was appalled at the grand scale of luxury. Most interesting are the mix of various styles which made the interiors, façade and the architecture as a whole very unique. At one of the homes where they run a restaurant, I saw old Anglo Indian style cutlery preserved and displayed well.
How to get to Chettinad
Nearest airports are Madurai Airport and Tiruchirappalli International Airport.
Largest town in the area is Karaikudi.
Trains run from Chennai to Rameshwaram with stops at Pudukkottai, Karaikudi, Kanadukaathan (Chettinad Station) and Kallal.
There are frequent town buses from Karaikudi to Chettinad.
So much to see and explore, you sure are lucky. Indirectly we are all lucky to be able to see the world through your eyes or should i say your camera.
Of course I did Sudhir. 🙂
It is the greed for their cuisine that took me there.
Thanks for the comments friends!
Glad you made it to chettinad, did you get to taste their cuisine as well?
The tilework is very beautiful, as is the columns and carvings on some of the homes. Thank you for sharing!
I wonder why so many of the rich left when clearly they had such grand places to live in.
Beautiful photos capturing the unique houses and mansions of Chettinad! You narrative and detail on the building are wonderful. I wish to be there someday, seriously.
A beautiful house, lol. Lovely.
Wonderful post and photos
Nice post! I didn't know about these mansions!
That indeed isa big mansion ..
lovely pics 🙂
Bikram
I love the architecture of the place. Nice shots.
Wow, lovely place!
Wow – how lovely. So impressive! And great shots.
There was a tinge of sadness that a great heritage is falling into disuse and slow dilapidation.
Excellent pictures of the community's aesthetic taste.
Good post supported by nice pics..!
They look like very interesting places to visit. Beautiful features photographed.
would be nice to see them converted into museums and more of them to hotels so people can experience luxury like it was in the olden days.
Wonderful vest pocket castles!
I'm glad you were able to visit at least a few of these mansions. Our photos are amazing. It's hard to imagine someone with enough money to build homes like these.
Those homes are indeed grand and elegant. I've seen similar (very similar) styled buildings in Bamako, Mali (West Africa). Thanks for sharing. Have a great week. Jo
I think all such places that are converted to Hotels are able to sustain them (mainly for tourist attraction)
These houses are so grand and beautiful. Nice post!
What a fascinating place and, yes, some of them do indeed look very grand! Beautiful captures, Indrani, as always and a great look at one of your many worlds!! Have a great week!!
some look very grand!