The Madras Club

During this journey to Chennai in November 2024, I was fortunate to spend the week staying at the stately Madras Club on the Adyar River. I had previously stayed there 14 years ago and was keen to see how it had changed – and was pleasantly surprised, particularly by the substantial renovations and restoration that the Club has undergone around ten years ago. The Club is in a fairly prosperous suburb of Chennai – neighbour to the US Consul’s Residence, the Madras Boat Club and other large private houses.

Mowbray's Cupola

Staying at the Club gave a unique opportunity to experience what was originally an Eighteenth Century private gentleman’s residence – Mowbray’s Cupola. Although perhaps a more spectacular example, it gives a flavour of the kind of houses my forebears whom I was chasing might have known and frequented... certainly at least the Hart merchants, if not the officers of the East India Company confined to barracks or the walls of Fort St George.

This remarkable relict of the pre-Raj East India Company era is itself notable. From being a private residence it passed into the ownership of the local Roman Catholic Diocese and then became home to the Adyar Club, founded in 1890 with a more sporty and recreational character, it merged in 1963 with the older and more traditional Madras Club, founded in 1832. Although housed in the original Adyar Club building, today it considers itself in the succession of the Madras Club and there is little reference to the Adyar Club.

Club life here is centered on the Bar – which is in fact a series of connected rooms with different seating configurations – which was always relatively lively in the evening. I would begin here each evening, then move into the dining room – the ‘River Room’ – for dinner, which offers a mixture of European (with a decidedly old-school-club-fare vibe), Indian and Asian dishes. The Bar also served substantial pre-dinner snacks which were excellent – particularly anything with prawns!

The Bar

Dining Room

I found my room in ‘Chambers’ very comfortable. I had two connected rooms, separated by a screen, with an ensuite bathroom with a large shower and toilet. Each room was airconditioned with a split-system and each room also had very effective ceiling fans. The rooms were very cool and a comfortable escape from the heat. My room was on the ground-floor and opened out onto a delightful patio area and lush and verdant garden with plenty of privacy from the rest of the Club and neighboring rooms.

My room in 'Chambers'

Other facilities which I enjoyed included a very pleasant swimming pool; a serviceable library with a good selection of books on the history of Chennai; a walking track for evening strolls looking down toward the Adyar River; and a reasonably well appointed gym and squash court. There is also a more ‘snug’ bar area with various ‘Madras Hunt Club’ memorabilia.

While it may not be a 5-star hotel, it did have the magic of staying in a truly magnificent and historic institution which still has an authentic whiff of the fading Raj about it. A gin and tonic sitting on the steps of the Cupola looking out over the lawn on a humid evening as the storms roll in across the Bay of Bengal was a wonderful experience and a fitting context for my explorations back in time!