Tudor Ice House, Madras

Bombay School of Art(?), circa 1880
Tudor Ice House, Madras
with inscription 'W Simpson' on the reverse
watercolour on paper
17¹⁄₄ x 26¹⁄₂in. (43.8 x 67.3cm.)
The minarets on Senate House (added in 1879) beyond give a terminus post quem of 1880. The ice-house on the Chennai foreshore next to Marina Beach was erected in 1842 to store large blocks of ice (ice previously unknown in India) which were imported from America by the Boston-based Tudor Ice Co.. After refrigeration was invented in the 1880s the building was acquired by the Government of Madras and converted into a home for Brahmin widows. Now Vivekananda House, it houses a permanent exhibition on Swami Vivekananda (who stayed in the house in 1897) and the cultural heritage of India.

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