LIC Building
Encyclopedia
LIC Building is a 14-storied skyscraper in Chennai
, India, serving as the southern regional headquarters of the Life Insurance Corporation of India
. It is the first skyscraper built in Chennai and a famous landmark in the city. Located on the arterial Anna Salai
(formerly Mount Road), the building is 177 feet tall. LIC Building was the tallest building in India when it was inaugurated in 1959 and was surpassed by Mumbai
's first skyscraper, the Usha Kiran Building, in 1961, which is about 80 m high. The building marked the transition from lime-and-brick construction to concrete columns in the region. It was the tallest building in Chennai for over 35 years before being surpassed by the Hyatt Regency Building
(erstwhile Magunta Oberoi) in Anna Salai and the Arihant Majestic Towers in Koyambedu
, both in the late 1990s.
and the United India Insurance, identified the location on Mount Road to construct an 18-storey building for his group's headquarters and conceived the building in 1952 as the head office of United India Life Assurance and New Guardian Life Insurance. The building was designed by the London
-based architects H. J. Brown and L. C. Moulin. The building was built on the lines of the UN Secretariat
building in New York City
. Although the construction was commenced in 1953, the architects withdrew in 1957 and the rest of the construction was overseen by Chennai-based architect L. M. Chitale. However, Chidambaram died when the building was still under construction. When insurance was nationalised in 1956, the government took over the building's construction and the height of the building was reduced to 14 floors. The construction was completed in the year 1959 and the building was unveiled on 23rd of August the same year by the then Union Finance Minister Morarji Desai
. The completed office building was to become the zonal and Madras divisional office of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and not that of the United India Life Insurance due to the nationalisation of the insurance service and all the assets were made over to LIC.
. About 1,000 tons of steel
and 3,000 tons of cement
were used in the construction of the building.
Connected to the air-conditioning plant is two large vertical shafts located at one end of the building going up to the roof—one meant for the supply of conditioned air and the other for return air. These shafts are closed at the top except for a small vent. All the floors have false ceilings made of Sitatex boards on wooden frames. The space above the false ceilings is utilised as plenum with three horizontal ducts running through the length of the building acting as supply air ducts. The central duct is of galvanised iron sheets. The side walls, above which the glass facings are fitted, has several openings on the window sills, through grills which communicate with the side ducts in the floor just below. These openings are also for the supply of conditioned air. The plenum as well as supply air ducts connected with vertical shafts are provided with inspection doors made of timber which open out directly to the staircase landings on each floor. At each end, a staircase is provided. The lift shafts are adjoining the vertical air shafts at one end. As fire fighting arrangement, the building has one 15-cm diameter riser feeding first-aid hose reels as well as fire extinguishers. For feeding the hose reels, there are two overhead tanks.
which was about 0.5 km away. Although there was no reported loss of life, some members of the fire service unit sustained injuries.
From the second floor upwards, all the floors were severely damaged due to the fire. In the upper floors, there was nothing left except the charred and twisted steel furniture. However, the basement housing the IBM machine and air-conditioning plant, the ground floor and the first floor were saved. Some of the upper floors were seen to have developed cracks on the walls and columns. Since the structural stability of the building was in doubt, the building remained out of use for a long time until it was inspected by experts and got repaired. The fire was thought to have originated from some waste materials at the bottom of the vertical shafts. The LIC Building fire had led to focus the existing shortcomings and inadequacies in the design and the state of fire protection of multi-storied buildings in India and helped in formulating comprehensive recommendations for strengthening fire-protection measures for such high-rise buildings. The total loss was estimated to be 50 million.
and the Anna Flyover
, LIC building is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region.
Chennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India, serving as the southern regional headquarters of the Life Insurance Corporation of India
Life Insurance Corporation of India
The Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest state-owned life insurance company in India, and also the country's largest investor. It is fully owned by the Government of India. It also funds close to 24.6% of the Indian Government's expenses. It has assets estimated of...
. It is the first skyscraper built in Chennai and a famous landmark in the city. Located on the arterial Anna Salai
Anna Salai
Anna Salai , formerly known as Mount Road, an abbreviated form of St. Thomas Mount Road, is an arterial road in Chennai, India. It starts at the Cooum Creek, south of Fort St George and ends at the Kathipara Junction in Guindy...
(formerly Mount Road), the building is 177 feet tall. LIC Building was the tallest building in India when it was inaugurated in 1959 and was surpassed by Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
's first skyscraper, the Usha Kiran Building, in 1961, which is about 80 m high. The building marked the transition from lime-and-brick construction to concrete columns in the region. It was the tallest building in Chennai for over 35 years before being surpassed by the Hyatt Regency Building
Hyatt Regency Chennai
Hyatt Regency Chennai is a five-star hotel located on Anna Salai at Teynampet in Chennai, India. Designed in 1986, the construction of the hotel started in the 1990s. However, the completion was delayed for nearly two decades and the hotel was opened on 10 August 2011 at a cost of 5,500 million...
(erstwhile Magunta Oberoi) in Anna Salai and the Arihant Majestic Towers in Koyambedu
Koyambedu
Koyambedu is a locality in the South Indian city of Chennai. The Koyambedu area has become a major hub of activity in Chennai City after the inauguration of the market and the bus terminus...
, both in the late 1990s.
History
Before the construction of the LIC building, establishments such as Murray & Company auctioneers and Pioneer Laundry service (started in 1918) stood on the same plot. M. Ct. M. Chidambaram Chettiyar, the founder of Indian Overseas BankIndian Overseas Bank
Indian Overseas Bank is a major bank based in Chennai , with 2018 domestic branches and six branches overseas. Indian Overseas Bank has an ISO certified inhouse Information Technology department, which has developed the software that 2018 branches use to provide online banking to customers; the...
and the United India Insurance, identified the location on Mount Road to construct an 18-storey building for his group's headquarters and conceived the building in 1952 as the head office of United India Life Assurance and New Guardian Life Insurance. The building was designed by the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-based architects H. J. Brown and L. C. Moulin. The building was built on the lines of the UN Secretariat
United Nations headquarters
The headquarters of the United Nations is a complex in New York City. The complex has served as the official headquarters of the United Nations since its completion in 1952. It is located in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, on spacious grounds overlooking the East River...
building in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Although the construction was commenced in 1953, the architects withdrew in 1957 and the rest of the construction was overseen by Chennai-based architect L. M. Chitale. However, Chidambaram died when the building was still under construction. When insurance was nationalised in 1956, the government took over the building's construction and the height of the building was reduced to 14 floors. The construction was completed in the year 1959 and the building was unveiled on 23rd of August the same year by the then Union Finance Minister Morarji Desai
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai was an Indian independence activist and the fourth Prime Minister of India from 1977–79. He was the first Indian Prime Minister who did not belong to the Indian National Congress...
. The completed office building was to become the zonal and Madras divisional office of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and not that of the United India Life Insurance due to the nationalisation of the insurance service and all the assets were made over to LIC.
Design and structure
Built on a 55-ground plot, the building was of enclosed construction with glass facings at front and rear. The building consists of 14 floors—13 levels with 2 basement floors. The building is of RCC-framed construction designed for central air conditioning, designed in the shape of well-proportioned box with strip glass façade. The air conditioning plant is in the sub-basement floor. The top floor of the building reaches a height of 44 meters, and the total height of the tower is 177 feet. The total floor area of the building is 1,26,000 sq.ft. The building stands on 521 pneumatic caisson piles that run to a depth of 35 feet below the ground. The building was built at a cost of 8.7 million in 1959. The building consumed about 26,000 sq.ft of special glass that was treated with infra-red rays, stove enameled and made water resistant with synthetic enamel paintEnamel paint
Enamel paint is paint that air dries to a hard, usually glossy, finish, used for coating surfaces that are outdoors or otherwise subject to hard wear or variations in temperature; it should not be confused with decorated objects in "painted enamel", where vitreous enamel is applied with brushes and...
. About 1,000 tons of steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
and 3,000 tons of cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
were used in the construction of the building.
Connected to the air-conditioning plant is two large vertical shafts located at one end of the building going up to the roof—one meant for the supply of conditioned air and the other for return air. These shafts are closed at the top except for a small vent. All the floors have false ceilings made of Sitatex boards on wooden frames. The space above the false ceilings is utilised as plenum with three horizontal ducts running through the length of the building acting as supply air ducts. The central duct is of galvanised iron sheets. The side walls, above which the glass facings are fitted, has several openings on the window sills, through grills which communicate with the side ducts in the floor just below. These openings are also for the supply of conditioned air. The plenum as well as supply air ducts connected with vertical shafts are provided with inspection doors made of timber which open out directly to the staircase landings on each floor. At each end, a staircase is provided. The lift shafts are adjoining the vertical air shafts at one end. As fire fighting arrangement, the building has one 15-cm diameter riser feeding first-aid hose reels as well as fire extinguishers. For feeding the hose reels, there are two overhead tanks.
Incidents
On 11 July 1975, a major fire incident occurred in the building. The fire was first observed on the first floor at about 8.00 pm local time and it spread rapidly to the floors above through several vertical openings and shafts. The incident necessitated deployment of the entire fire fighting resources of the city, including units from the Chennai Port Trust, refineries, and so on. The operations continued overnight and concluded at about 6.00 pm the following day. During the initial stages, the fire-fighting operations were seriously hampered due to falling splinters of glass, burning fragments and molten metal from window frames made of aluminum. In addition, heavy sea breeze aided the rapid spread of fire. As the city hydrants had paucity of water, the fire-fighting operations mostly depended upon the fleet of water lorries provided by the Corporation of Chennai which were utilized for relaying water from the Cooum riverCooum River
The Cooum River , is an urban river which ends in the city of Chennai draining into the Bay of Bengal. Along with the Adyar River running parallel to the south, the river trifurcates the city and separates Northern Chennai from Central Chennai.The name of Cooum appears to be derived from Tamil...
which was about 0.5 km away. Although there was no reported loss of life, some members of the fire service unit sustained injuries.
From the second floor upwards, all the floors were severely damaged due to the fire. In the upper floors, there was nothing left except the charred and twisted steel furniture. However, the basement housing the IBM machine and air-conditioning plant, the ground floor and the first floor were saved. Some of the upper floors were seen to have developed cracks on the walls and columns. Since the structural stability of the building was in doubt, the building remained out of use for a long time until it was inspected by experts and got repaired. The fire was thought to have originated from some waste materials at the bottom of the vertical shafts. The LIC Building fire had led to focus the existing shortcomings and inadequacies in the design and the state of fire protection of multi-storied buildings in India and helped in formulating comprehensive recommendations for strengthening fire-protection measures for such high-rise buildings. The total loss was estimated to be 50 million.
In popular culture
Along with the Chennai Central Railway StationChennai Central
Chennai Central , erstwhile Madras Central, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai . It is the home of the Southern Railway and the most important rail hub in South India. The other major railway hub stations in the city are Chennai Egmore and Tambaram...
and the Anna Flyover
Anna Flyover
Anna Flyover , lies in the heart of Chennai, India. Built by East Coast Construction and Industries in 1973, it was the first flyover in the country and in Chennai...
, LIC building is one of the most prominent landmarks in the city that is often featured in movies and other pop culture in the region.