Raj Bhavan's " is the official residence

Official residence

An official residence is the residence at which heads of state, heads of government, gubernatorial or other senior figures officially reside...

 of the Governor of Tamil Nadu

Governors of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is a state in southern India. Like all states, the governor is a nominal head and representative of the President of India. He or she is appointed by the president for a five year term. This list includes both nominated and acting heads of state in the history of the state of Tamil Nadu...

. It is located in the capital city of Chennai

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...

, Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

.

History

The earliest official residence of the Governors of Madras were in Fort St. George, the first one built in the 1640s on what is now the Parade Square. This was pulled down in 1693 and a new one built eastwards where, in later years, it became the core of the Secretariat. When the Governor’s garden house, was destroyed by the French in 1746, a new garden house was acquired for the Governor after the French withdrawal in 1749. A house, which belonged to Antonia de Madeiros, a member of perhaps the richest family of the time, became the core of Government House

Government House

Government House is the name of many of the residences of Governors-General, Governors and Lieutenant-Governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. It serves as the venue for the Governor's official business, as well as the many receptions and functions hosted by...

 around which developed what is now called Government Estate. It was in the 1820 that Governor Thomas Munro (1820–1827) made Government House the official residence and now it called as Raj Bhavan and was once Guindy Lodge, the Governor’s country house.

Guindy Lodge, it is believed, was built by Governor William Langhorne

Sir William Langhorne, 1st Baronet

Sir William Langhorne, 1st Baronet was the Agent of Madras from January 1670 to 27 January 1678.-Family and early life:...

 (1672–1678) in the early 1670s in garden space carved out of the Guindy Forest that had helped make St. Thomas’ mount a salubrious place for rest and recreation. When Langhorne left in 1678, he sold the property to the then Chief Merchant of Madras, Beri Chinna Venkatadri, the younger brother of one of the founders of the city, Beri Thimappa

Beri Thimappa

Beri Thimappa / Thimmanna was the dubash and chief negotiator for Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, the agents of the British East India Company, and was instrumental in the purchase of Madras from the Nayak brothers. Thimmappa Chetti migrated in the early 17th century to Chennai from Palacole, near...

. When Chinna Venkatadri had problems with the East India Company, he gifted Guindy Lodge to the Company’s Madras Government.

Area of Raj Bhavan

Raj Bhavan is situated in the Guindy Park Reserved Forest Area. The blackbuck

Blackbuck

Blackbuck is a species of antelope native to the Indian subcontinent. Their range decreased sharply during the 20th century. Since 2003, the IUCN lists the species as near threatened....

, a near-threatened

Near Threatened

Near Threatened is a conservation status assigned to species or lower taxa that may be considered threatened with extinction in the near future, although it does not currently qualify for the threatened status...

 species of antelope

Antelope

Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...

, was introduced to Guindy Park by Lord Willingdon

Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon

Major Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, the country's 22nd.Freeman-Thomas was born in England and...

in 1924. The present area of the Raj Bhavan Estate is 156.14 acre (0.6318767204 km²), after large areas of land adjoining Raj Bhavan were made over for other public purposes, as shown below:

• 1958: transferred to the Union Education Ministry for locating the Indian Institute of Technology
• 1958: transferred To the Forest Department for Deer Park and Children’s Park at the instance of the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru
• 1974: transferred for Rajaji Memorial
• 1975: transferred for Kamaraj Memorial
• 1977: transferred to the Forest Department to become a National park

There are also two pieces of land near the Adyar River Bed and in Ikkadu Thangal respectively, totalling 8.63 acres (34,924.4 m²), belonging to Raj Bhavan. Here is located water pumping stations for supply to Raj Bhavan.

In and around Raj Bhavan, it has deer (spotted deer, black buck and albino), mongoose, jackals, many varieties of reptiles and a large number of birds like partridges, pheasants, parrots, quail, paradise fly-catcher, etc. Bird watchers have noticed migratory birds here.

External links

• The Official Web Site of Governor of Tamil Nadu