Right next door to the Cosmopolitan Club, tucked away in a nondescript cul-de-sac off Mount Road, is a most singular business concern housed in an equally unique building proclaiming ‘Musée Musical, Music Saloons, Pianos & Organs’ in an old-fashioned three-dimensional relief signage. Musée Musical began as Misquith & Co. in 1842 when a Portuguese piano technician established a piano and organ servicing store near Anna Square. At the height of his career, he ran 16 branches across the subcontinent but had to either sell off or shut down all the outlets owing to his ailing health. The Madras branch was bought out by a Frenchman named E.R. Prudhomme who gave the business its current name, sought out a pianist friend of his, Amy de Rozario to run the store and appointed one Giridhar Das as its financial director.
Rozario moved Musée Musical to its current building in the 1930s, which once was part of the elephant stables of the Parthasarathy Temple in Triplicane, and hence the unusually large doors. In wake of the independence movement, she decided to move back to England in the 1940s and Giridhar Das took over the business. Post 1947, in response to a whopping 330% duty on the import of musical instruments, Musée ventured into manufacturing and introduced Indian instruments as well. From supplying pianos to city churches and running a music school preparing students for Trinity College examinations, to hosting interaction events with musicians and archiving vintage music, the firm has grown to become synonymous with Western music in the city since Das’s grandsons Sachin and Kishore took over the business. All of Chennai’s greats including Ilaiyaraaja, A.R. Rahman and Anirudh have trained at Musée Musical over the years, making it a truly underrated business on the city’s commercial map.
One simply cannot discuss entertainment and Chennai without talking about the movies. While Kodambakkam and Vadapalani housed the studios and production houses that crafted films, it was through the theatres of Mount Road that cinema truly reached its audience. In the 1980s, Mount Road was renowned for its vibrant array of movie halls, serving as the city’s entertainment nucleus. Beloved theatres like Paragon and Plaza offered a mix of classic Tamil films and English features, with Telugu and Hindi movies regularly making it to the screens as well. Further along, Casino and Gaiety theatres became premier destinations for English films, with Casino being the only surviving business of the lot today. The Safire Complex near the Anna flyover is often said to be the first multiplex in India with its 3 screens — Safire, Blue Diamond, and Emerald. Even Kalaivanar Arangam, an auditorium, used to screen old Tamil and English flicks when there were no plays or functions being held; such was the craze for cinema in the city!
Casino Theatre, one of the last remaining old-school movie halls on Mount Road. (Source: I am Madras)
Press and Publishing
The newspaper industry in Madras was one of the earliest in India, and Mount Road became home to some of its most influential publications. The Hindu, founded in 1878 by a group of six lawyers and schoolteachers, started as a weekly publication, becoming a daily in 1889. Initially printed out of Triplicane, it gained credibility for its sharp political coverage and moved to rented premises at Mount Road in 1883, where it eventually set up the Kasturi Buildings in 1939, named after S. Kasturiranga Iyengar, the newspaper’s owner and editor at that time.
Before The Hindu became dominant, British owned newspapers ruled the roost with The Madras Times being established in the 1830s. It flourished under the editorship of Charles Lawson and Henry Cornish, until they fell out with the proprietor and went on to establish The Madras Mail in 1868. The Times and The Mail were seen as rivals with the former being seen as more sympathetic to the native cause while the latter was staunchly pro-establishment. This rivalry would hardly matter in the larger scheme of things, as in 1921, J.O. of Spencer’s fame bought out both newspapers and merged them into The Mail under the newly established Associated Press. He also moved its offices from First Line beach to the iconic building that still stands on Mount Road. Curiously, in 1945, another takeover tycoon, Amalgamations’ S. Anantharamakrishnan acquired the newspaper, and The Mail would go on to celebrate its centenary before shutting shop in 1981.
A page from the iconic Tamil daily Swadesamitran from 1936, which once echoed the voices of nationalist reformers. (Source: Tamil Digital Library)
Meanwhile, Swadesamitran, founded in 1882 by G. Subramania Iyer after he left The Hindu, became the first Tamil daily in 1899. It played a crucial role in promoting Tamil literature and nationalism, providing a platform for indigenous voices during the colonial period, including the legendary Subramania Bharati, popularly known as the Mahakavi. In 1928, under the stewardship of C.R. Srinivasan, Swadesamitran moved into a commercial property on Mount Road, which was renamed as Victory House, where it operated until it stopped publication in 1985.
Today and beyond
The construction of the LIC Building in 1959 marked a turning point in Mount Road’s storied history. It was the city’s tallest building at the time of construction, and with it came not just a shift in the city’s skyline, but also a broader transformation in state’s economy. The glass-and-concrete structure stood in stark contrast to the Indo-Saracenic edifices that had long defined the area, symbolizing progress and modernization, and quietly affirming that Mount Road was not only adapting to change but embracing it.
Another pivotal moment came in 1970 when Mount Road was officially renamed Anna Salai in honour of C.N. Annadurai, former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Anna championed self-respect, social justice, and the assertion of Tamil identity, and naming the city’s most significant road after him was a political statement. While old-timers still nostalgically call it Mount Road, Anna Salai remains a powerful reminder of the cultural and political shifts that have shaped Chennai.
While change has indeed been a constant on Mount Road, some things have endured. The Gove Building, originally a showroom for Simpson’s, today houses Mercedes-Benz cars, courtesy of VST Motors — a fitting analogy for how Mount Road has evolved while staying true to its roots. Yet, this evolution has not been without friction: heritage conservation on Anna Salai has remained a contentious issue, with preservationists often at odds with the government’s perceived apathy, and the sorry state of heritage structures like the Kardyl Building is a testament to this struggle.
The Gove Building: once a Simpson’s showroom, now home to Mercedes-Benz. (Source: VST Motors)
For much of the 20th century, Mount Road was not only the city’s central business district, but also a symbol of prestige for firms to associate themselves with; from DMK to CSK, organizations of every ilk have sought an address on this road. However, with dozens of IT parks and GCCs popping up along the stretch in recent years, the Old Mahabalipuram Road has slowly earned the title of Chennai’s new downtown, challenging Mount Road’s dominance. Similarly, much of the manufacturing has moved to the western limits of the city. Despite this, infrastructure projects like the proposed elevated corridor alongside the government’s push for increased FSI to encourage high-density commercial development, signal only one thing — Mount Road isn’t ceding ground anytime soon, and a ‘mercantile future’ is guaranteed for a road that has been the lifeline of Chennai’s commerce for over 300 years and continues to reinvent itself.
A note on sources
This essay draws from a range of sources that helped bring Mount Road’s history alive, both in my imagination and on the page.
Much of the information and inspiration came from archival articles in The Hindu, essays and anecdotes in Madras Musings, the ever-evocative writing of Sriram V, and the landmark book Madras Rediscovered by S. Mut
Madras Inherited for their heritage walks, particularly Time Travel through Mount Road, which first sparked the idea for this essay.
This piece was originally developed as part of the Business and Economic History course at IIM Ahmedabad, taught by Prof. Chinmay Tumbe, whose perspectives on place, policy, and people helped shape the way I understood Mount Road’s evolution.