Chettinad Architecture

CHETTINADARCHITECTURE…
•RELIGION ANDBELIEF
•CULTURE
•PROPORTIONS
•SETTLEMENT PLANNING
•PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING
•HOUSING TYPOLOGY
•MATERIALS & CONSTRUCTION
•CONSTRUCTION DETAILS

PRINCIPLES OF PLANNING…
The Chettinad houses were originally single-storeyed
buildings
made of sundried brickof mud and bamboo and thatch.
They evolved to become tile-roofed with a small two-
storeyed
towerat both ends of the front elevation,
They laterexpanded vertically into two-storeyed structures,
and
horizontally through the addition of numerous halls and
courtyards
that could accommodate guests at marriages and other
ceremonies
It was not unusual forthree generations to live togetherin
one house.
The Chettinad houses accommodate up to fourgenerations
before
separate houses are built by individual sons

oThe houses are built on a rectangular, traversal plot that stretches
across two streets, with the front door opening into the first street
and the back into the second.
oLooking in from the main threshold, your eye travels in a straight line
across a series of inner courtyards, each a diminishing rectangle of
light, leading out to the back door .
othe courtyards supply ample light and air (pickles and papads were
dried there) but leave the rest of the house in deep and cool shadow.
The courtyards have tiles placed exactly under the storm-water
drainpipes so that the stone floor is not damaged.
o Underground drains run right through the house, with stone stoppers
carved exactly for their mouths.
o Large stone vats for water and wooden bins for firewood line the
inner courtyards.

First comes an outer thinai - Large raised platforms on either side of
the central corridor, where the host would entertain male guests.
The platforms lead off on one side into store rooms and massive
granaries and on the other, into the ( Kanakupillai ) or Accountant's
room.This area also usually leads off to the men's well.
From here, the huge elaborately carved teak front door, with image of
Lakshmi carved over the head and navaratna or nine precious gems
buried under the ( Vasapadi) threshold.
The door leads into the first open air courtyard, with pillared corridors
running on each side thatlead into individual rooms, each meant for a
married son, each with a triangular slot cut into the wall for the
evening lamp.
Then comes the second counrtyard with large dining spaces on either
side.

The third courtyard was for the women folk to rest and gossip, while
the fourth, or nalankattai comprised the kitchens, leading out to the
backyard with its women's well and grinding stones.
The wealthier the merchants the larger the house, often spreading
out to a second floor.
Let alone air conditioning, inside an authentic Chettinad house you
will never feel the need to use fans too amidst open courtyards,
amazing wall finishes and earthy tiles
Kanakupillaithinai

Cool space
The Chettinad houses were conceived as fortresses, guarding both
valuables and the even more valuable, cool air.
So, from outside, you perceive no idea of the house's design.
Thus instead of lawns in front of the house, the Chettiars had
courtyards inside.
But they retained the thinnai (platform outside the house that projects
towards the street from the house's front wall), typical of ethnic Tamil
architecture.
The thinnai ended in granaries on one side and a room,
generally the accountant's room, on the other side.
The heavy and elaborately carved front doors, with images of deities,
Goddess Lakshmi especially (from the shiploads of Burmese teak,
of course) sometimes had precious gems inlayed on it.

The courtyards
Most Chettinad mansions have at least a couple of courtyards.
The living space leads one immediately into the courtyard.
The first open-air courtyard, with corridors flanked by huge pillars
on its sides, generally was bordered by rooms along its sides.
You also notice triangular slots cut into the walls of these houses,
an inbuilt shelf for lamps.
The second courtyard opens out immediately and is flanked by
spaces used for dining generally.
The third courtyard served as a restroom for the womenfolk, while
the fourth one housed the kitchens.

•Each of the small rooms off the main courtyard is the property of one
married son in the patriarchal lineage of the ancestral builder of
the home.
•It is the only part of the house, besides a section of the
kitchen, to which a separate ownership can be attributed.
•Even today, men and women are segregated in a Chettinad house:
the men occupy the outer verandah and front room;
and the women occupy the kitchen courtyard and work around the
main courtyard.
•No house comes with less than two vast kitchens, not to mention
several giant grinding stones and rows of fireplaces in the last
courtyard – all meant to entertain gigantic gatherings

•A series of developments can be noted in
the houses owing to
the cultural changes and modernisation.
•The thinnai was provided on either side of
the house in the main
entrance which is mainly used by the male
members of the house
for the informal meetings
•In the later house when the intimate
contact with the neighbours
was reduced owing to the cultural change
the front thinnai was
enclosed to privacy
•This reduced the segregation between
the male and the female
of the house
BELIEFS…

Proportion
Well proportionedWell proportioned plan

•Culture is an all embracing word which includes all significant
aspects of human life beginning from philosophy, social organization
, religion and economy, social institutions and meanings etc.
CULTUR
• The land of Tamils,in the southern part of INDIA is CHETTINAD
– the land of NATTUKOTTAI, founded by Chettiars,called by their
preferred community name – NAGARATHAR .
•Chettiars,were one of the
earliest business communities
in India. They settled almost
mid-centre between the
capitals of the Pandya
Kingdom in Madurai and the
Chola Empire in Thanjavur in
the 13th century.

CULTUR
•Wood carving, silver embellishment, woven saris, palm-leaf
baskets, gold jewellery, hand-made tiles, architectural styling,
refined cuisine and egg plastering are among their contributions
of Indian arts and crafts. These masterful innovations justified the
self-proclaimed sobriquet the Chettiars gave themselves—
Nagarathars or the ‘sophisticated townsfolk’. Even today,
Chettinad is a heritage zone dotted with the palatial homes that
are called Nattukottais.
Towns like Karaikudi, Pallathur, Athangudi, and Kothamangalam,
have the most lavish houses in Chettinad.
The people of Chettinad
then moved on from their
settlement to other villages
not far from their first
settlement and, there were
nine main clusters of
villages. To each of them
the Pandya King granted a
temple in perpetuity.

PLANNING
Chettinad Houses:
•The Chettinad houses are built on a rectangular traversal plot that
stretches across two streets, with the front door opening into the
first street and the back into the second. Looking in from the main
threshold, your eye travels in a straight line across a series of inner
courtyards, each a diminishing rectangle of light, leading out to the
back door.
Veranda. First courtyard columns.
Tinnai corridorPujaroomand storage
of dowry items.
"conjugal"room second courtyard
kitchen. Veranda.
open
garden
space

HOUSING TYPOLOGY
•First comes an outer thinai - Large
raised platforms on either side of the
central corridor, where the host would
entertain male guests. The platforms
lead off on one side into store rooms
and massive granaries and on the
other, into the ( Kanakupillai ) or
Accountant's room.
• The doorleads into the first open aircourtyard, with pillared
corridors running on each side that lead into individual rooms,
each meant fora married son. Then comes the second counrtyard
with large dining spaces with the kitchens, leading out to the
backyard with its women's well and grinding stones. The wealthier
the merchants the largerthe house, often spreading out to a
second floor.
•The courtyards supply ample light leaving the rest of the house in
deep and cool shadow. The courtyards have tiles placed exactly
under the strom-water drain run right through the house, with stone
stoppers carved exactly for their mouths. Large stone vats for
water and wooden bins for firewood line the inner courtyards.

HOUSING TYPOLOGY
AMM House in
Pallathur
The Meyyappans have converted the family clubhouse into The
bangala, the S.A.R. Muthiah family has opened up some rooms in
its family mansion to tourists. Muthiah Chettiar, the Raja of
Chettinad, has opened his house in Kanadukathan forpublic
viewing, while his brother's house next doorhas a floorconverted
to a museumthat displays everything associated with chettiars.

HOUSING TYPOLOGY
Chettinadu Mansion has 7 Air-conditioned
double rooms, each with an attached
bathroom, a dressing room and a private
balcony with an open air shower.
These rooms are comfortably furnished
with hand picked original Chettinad
pieces.
Chettinad Palace which is located just
behind Chettinadu Mansion.
Chettinad shandies, is where one gets idea
about local marketing skills of the village
folk and view the colourful arrangement of
vegetables, fruits, snacks, chettinad
baskets, and other rural produce, and may
be pick up some items at throwaway prices.

HOUSING TYPOLOGY
VIEWS OF CHETTINAD

PALACES
Chettinad Palace in Kanadikathan
The 110-year-old Chettinad Palace in Kanadikathan village is the
oldest surviving building of this style, built by Dr Annamali
Chettiyar, founder of the Indian Bank and the Annamalai
University in Chidambaram

PALACES
Next to the palace is the Raja's brother's house, a treasure house
of all things Chettinad — furniture, ornaments, saris, vessels and
the like. Located nearby is the `Chettinad' railway station with a
rest-house close by, which belongs to the Raja's family.
ENTRANCE OF PALACE OUTSIDE VIEW ENTRANCE
INNER ENTRANCE COURT PRIVATE ENTRANCE DINING
HALL

PALACES
GALLERY AROUND PATIO ENTRANCE
C O U R T Y A R D

•The walls are of baked bricks
•Plastered overby a secret recipe
of roots,
•Yolkand lime that leaves them
silken smooth and washable;
•The tiles are Spanish;
•The floors of Italian marble or
locally - crafted Athangudi tiles;
•The pillars of Burmese teak,
many houses have small turrets,
•Elaborate guard houses on the
terrace.
Building materials used are

•Plastered overby a secret
recipe of roots, Yolkand lime
that leaves themsilken
smooth and washable
•Inside an authentic Chettinad
house you will neverfeel the
need to use fans too amidst
open courtyards, amazing wall
finishes and earthy tiles
•The floors of Italian marble or
locally - crafted Athangudi
tiles;
•The pillars of Burmese teak,
many houses have small
turrets,

•Matchbox-like structures, tall endless mud and lime copies of
mass produced enclosures.
•Chettinad houses are built on
a rectangulartraversal plot
that stretches across two
streets, with the front door
opening onto the first street
and the backonto the second.
• Looking in fromthe main
threshold, youreye travels in
a straight line across a series
of innercourtyards, each a
diminishing rectangle of light,
leading out to the backdoor.
Karaikudi - Chettinad House

Madras terrace roofing.
•Handmade floortiles from
Athangudi, are inlaid on the
madras terrace roof pattern with
the joists imported fromBurma as
batterns are melamine Burma teak.
Madras plastering technique.
• Lime egg plastering, another
traditional technique used to paint
walls white and keep the insides of
houses cool, that lasts virtually the
entire life of the building,
Construction techniques.

Madras terrace roofing.

•The construction material,
decorative items and
furnishings were mostly
imported fromEast Asian
countries and Europe.
•The marble was brought from
Italy, chandeliers and teak
fromBurma, crockery from
Indonesia, crystals from
Europe and wall-to-wall
mirrors from Belgium.
•The woodworkand
stoneworkwas inspired that
of the houses in France and
otherEuropean destinations
Construction techniques.

•The huge elaborately carved teak
front door, with image of Lakshmi
carved overthe head and navaratna
ornine precious gems buried under
the ( Vasapadi) threshold.
•Pillared corridors running on each
side that lead into individual rooms,
each meant fora married son, each
with a triangularslot cut into the
wall forthe evening lamp.
•Large dining spaces on eitherside.
•The third courtyard was forthe
women folkto rest and gossip, while
the fourth, ornalankattai comprised
the kitchens.
A typical chettinad construction

•The evolution of a whole way
of life, fromculture and
history to the use of materials
and new technologies, to an
understanding of the
environmental factors
Construction
•Many of the windows, with
orange segment shaped
fanlights oversome of them,
orbarred and grilled doors,
with pierced screen
ventilators on top, have been
treated with darkgreen
paint.
•The basketwork has been
used as lamps, as decorative
flourishes in a niche and as
containers forholding food in
it.

EXTERNAL FAÇADE TREATMENT
•The central is surrounded by pillars of burma teakand there is a
•combination of scarlet tiles and sloping woodwork.
•The construction material, decoritems and furnishings were mostly
imported,workwere inspired by French and otherEuropean
architecture.

Private entrance of the house where still the authentic family of the
Chettiars live .

•Dining hall where at least 250 people can dine in the traditional
style, that is, by squatting on the floor.
•Dining hall with the door to the central inner courtyard and some old
paintings .

The entrance view showing the details of their façade treatment with the
combination of vibrant colours as well as the openings.

•This is the view of one of the chettinad house which was built 120
years ago.

One of chettinad house showing the richness which it had with
higher plinth

•The verandah is just next
to the iron-gate and was
converted into the waiting
area for the visitors.
•The meeting hall is decorated
with several pairs of tusks;
one of them is over 8 ft long
and shipped from South Africa.
•The walls are made 1.5 ft to
3 ft wide to keep the cool
without the use of any
electronic
equipment like the air
conditioners.

•Chettinad, rich in cultural heritage, art and architecture, is well
known
for its houses, that are embellished with marble and Burma
teak.
•The houses have wide inner courtyards and spacious rooms.
•The basic design comprises of a "thinnai" which is an
enclosed courtyard and this is surrounded by family
rooms.
•The plaster involves the application of the finely ground mixture
• of powdered shell, lime, jaggery and spices, including gallnut to
walls.
•This technique keeps the interior of the house cool during
the hot and humid Indian summers and lasts a lifetime.
•The architectural structure of a typical Chettiar home is a
study in how a human dwelling can be constructed in
harmony with nature.

•High ceilings, airy and well ventilated, the house has one
courtyard near the entrance leads to the imposing main door,
usually made of wood with extraordinarily intricate carvings of
mythological figures.
•The thinnai is a long narrow raised platform that serves as a
meeting place and also as a kind of accomodation for travellers
and visitors.
•The inner courtyard has special significance. It is lined with
classically beautiful pillars made out of granite or teakwood.
•The courtyard serves as the venue for the many
ceremonies that the community performs from births to
weddings to death.

•View showing the interiors with stout columns with lot of detailings.
•Huge large marbles single piece marble is used as flooring

•View showing the upper corridor having arcades connecting the
bedrooms with twin circular columns.

•Series of columns supporting the sloping roof covered with pot tiles
which is adopted mainly to drain the rainwater.

INTERIORS
•The ceiling has artistic patterns in vegetable dye over roofing
plates made of copper soldered with a special variety of
aluminum.
•The no cementing agent was used in the construction and the
bricks are bound together with a paste of egg white, the extract of
an unripe medicinal fruit found in the hills of Kadukkai and lime
grind.
•The hall leads to the central courtyard, which was used for
weddings and religious ceremonies.
•The pillars around the courtyard are made of Burma teak.
•There is a colorful combination of blood-red tiles and sloping
woodwork.
•The ladies' hall has another courtyard and a rectangular dining
hall.
•At least 250 people can sit and dine in the dining hall in the
traditional style, i.e., by squatting on the floor.

INTERIORS
•The third courtyard has several small
rooms around it. They were meant
to store crockery, food and other
kitchen items.
•The servants' quarters are situated
at the far end at a proper distance
from the residential area of the
family.
•A couple of large stone hand-grinders are fixed on the veranda
surrounding the courtyard.
•Eleven firewood ovens are lined along the kitchen wall and there are also
two teak wood cupboards.
•A puja room in a corner of the courtyard .
•The first floor comprises mainly of bedrooms and living rooms .

INTERIORS
•Near the kitchen provision has been made in the roof to hold the
traditional tools of the kitchen activities

INTERIORS
PLANNING CONCEPT
•The concept of chettinadu house is believed to have arrived
from kaveripoompatinam.
•The planning concept was essentially based on occupation of
the people and their desires .
•Since they were traders they need spaces for keeping their
valuables called inside room and outside room which served
the purpose.
•The dictated introverted planning was adopted to avoid multiple
access.
•The scale of spaces like kalyana kottagai and bhojana hall was
determined by the religious and family festivals.

INTERIORS
SERVICE SPACE-
the scale for these spaces is not fixed the day
to day activities but by the festive usage. Their
location in the linear arrangement follows the
living area.
MULTIPURPOSE CENTRAL OPEN SPACE-
located amidst the room and often used as the
semipublic and commercial space.
FEASTING SPACE
though this space is less commonly used it is
considered as the important space and exists as
the status symbol of the household
SPATIAL ORGANISATION

INTERIORS
SPATIAL ORGANISATION
RECEPTION- this is designed to express the stately image of the owner
it has level variations and used both for receiving the guest and for
relaxation.
PATTAGASALAI- This is used for relaxation as well for the confidential
dealings which is usually a raised platform. This space
usually mixes with the central space.
SECURED AND SECLUDED SPACE-
This space is created to serve the need for storage .
The scale and the intimacy of the space reveals the
material stored. The composition is such that the
outer room buffers the inner room.

Chettinad Architecture

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