It is not always that our city has cause to celebrate in matters of heritage, given its dismal track record of protecting and giving a fresh lease of life to structures that have played an important role in its history. It must be acknowledged however that today there seems to be a bit more awareness, especially amongst the corridors of power on the need to conserve its rich legacy. Coming on the heels of the successful restoration of the Victoria Public Hall is the recent restoration of the old Madras Law College building and its declaration as an additional heritage campus of the Madras High Court. Over the last decade or so, the Madras High Court has undertaken several noteworthy activities to showcase its heritage, such as a well-maintained museum, restoration of the second lighthouse of Madras which stands in its campus, and throwing open its campus to heritage walks (initiated and led by NL Rajah, Senior Advocate). The recent restoration of the magnificent erstwhile Law College building adds yet another feather to its cap.

The Madras Law College was established in 1891 in place of the old law classes of the Presidency College which were not found to work satisfactorily. Initially, lecture hours were confined to morning and evening, as most of the professors were practicing lawyers and the students occupied during the day in government and private offices. Progress on this type of arrangement was deemed unsatisfactory and around late 1896, the course structure was remodelled. Parallelly, steps had been taken to move the college to a separate building, on the site adjoining the Madras High Court to its west. The site was originally the old British cemetery of Madras. Excavations for the foundations would bring to light several old skeletons. The duo of Henry Irwin (as the architect) and JH Stephens (as the engineer), who had been involved in the new buildings of the Madras High Court which had moved into its current campus in 1892 were involved in the execution of the law college building as well. Designed in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture, the Law College moved into its new campus in early 1899.

In 2015, the heritage structure suffered damages due to the metro rail project and was declared unsafe, necessitating relocation of the law college elsewhere. The institution was subsequently bifurcated and relocated to the Tiruvallur and Chengalpattu districts in 2018.

A search on the internet on the construction of the Law College buildings threw up a fascinating note on its foundations, as reported by the Engineering Record journal, in its issue dated Oct 27, 1894. It was a summary of a series of articles published in the Indian Engineering magazine on the features of the building and is worth reproducing in full.

It is interesting to note that the Law College was a forerunner by way of its butterfly pattern, ideally suited for corner plots. This would be later put to good use by Sir Edwin Lutyens when he designed the houses of Maharajahs all around Princes’ Place in New Delhi.

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Foundations for Madras (India) Law College

“The English Law College at Madras is a massive masonry structure, two stories high, built at the intersection of two important streets and having an ornate central entrance gate flanked by high towers and comer pavilions and domes. It was designed by Mr Irwin, CIE, consulting architect to the government of Madras, and as the ground was wet and soft, the heavy walls were built on the brick well piers, characteristic of the country. From a series of articles in the Indian Engineer, we have prepared a description of the characteristic features and principal data of the ­foundations.

The wells had to be sunk 14 feet below the surface of the ground or 8 feet through black ooze and slush till a good bed of sand was reached. The natural springs commenced about 6 feet from the surface, so that a head of 8 feet of water had to be dealt with in lowering the wells.

Altogether 404 wells were built and sunk, and each one was made so as to fit exactly the position it was to occupy in the building. The sizes and arrangements of the wells as shown in Figure 1 and a half-plan of the concrete footing above them is shown in Figure 2, both figures being half plans, symmetrical about the centre line ZZ. The octagonal form was found more suitable than the square, as it better resisted the pressure of the external earth while sinking. The curbs were all of wood, but wedge shaped and a foot deep. A dozen or more curbs forming one well were fixed in position and the walls built on them to a height of 4 feet. After about a week’s drying these were gradually sunk to the level of the soil and the second section of 4 feet raised, after another week’s drying this also was lowered.

An older view of the Law College. Picture courtesy: The Hindu.

The triangular wells gave the greatest difficulty in sinking and the larger wells of all shapes gave more trouble than the smaller ones. For sinking, the professional Madras well sinker, as well as Bull’s dredges and Fouracres well excavators were used, but it was found, probably on account of the comparatively small depth and oozy nature of the soil, that the well sinker with his basket and ropes worked quickest and cheapest; but the other methods were kept on, merely to show the well sinkers that the work was not entirely dependent on them.

The length of the wells was regulated by the breadth of the walls above them, and the breadth of the wells made so that two men could work easily in them as well as to fit a certain number of wells in every length of walling or area of tower. The wells, arranged like the conventional lotus, form the foundations of the large east towers. It will be observed that the larger wells form the inner circle and the smaller ones the outside area. It is believed that this arrangement will make the foundations stronger than if the reverse had been adopted, or if all the wells had been made of one size. Round wells were not adopted on account of the larger spaces which have to be left between them. The wells were fitted, after being sunk, by sea sand, clean flinty silica, incompressible in its nature, and which will carry almost any weight when securely housed. Such a filling may not answer for bridge works in beds of rivers, where the sand may be even indirectly exposed to scour or current, but in a building far away from such influences, where the sand will remain undisturbed, it is claimed to be appropriate. A bed of 4.5 feet of concrete comes over the wells, and 1.5 feet of brickwork over the concrete will bring the foundation to the ground level. The wells took four months to make, sink, and fill. The concrete was made of broken granite and surkhee mortar laid in 6-inch courses.”