British-era Lakshmanaswami Town Hall restored in Vellore

The British-era Lakshmanaswami Town Hall, opposite to the 16th century fort complex on Infantry Road in Vellore, was restored to its original splendour as a full-fledged community hall for public use, especially by the poor.

The government hall once housed the district museum of North Arcot region when it was established in 1985 by the Department of Education

Later, the museum was relocated to the fort complex in 1999 due to a space crunch in the hall. “The Town Hall was a stop-gap measure to set up a district museum in Vellore, which was the sixth such facility after Chennai, Trichy, Pudukottai, Madurai, and Salem. A nominal fee was paid to use the space of the town hall,” K. Saravanan, curator, Vellore Museum, told The Hindu.

Since then, Town Hall has been an ideal gathering spot to witness social and cultural events. Local historians said that the building was built in 1906 and named after noted physician Arcot Lakshmanaswami (A.L.).

Born in a Tamil-speaking Tuluva Vellalar family, Lakshmanaswami and his brother Arcot Ramaswami (A.R.), who are twins, resided in the region before they moved to the then Madras to pursue education. After independence, Lakshmanaswami donated the building to the government for public use.

Over the years, the dilapidated building was badly damaged with cracks on its walls and roof. The painting also faded. A portion of the Mangalore tiled roof was damaged. Sewer pipelines were completely broken.

Along with PWD officials, Collector V.R. Subbulaxmi inspected the crumbled structure as part of restoration of the building that was taken up under Collector’s general funds. Subsequently, thick vegetation on the roof and walls were removed. Broken tiles in the hall were replaced with new ones.

New pipelines were installed to provide uninterrupted water supply to the facility. LED lighting was also provided to organise public events, especially during evenings. Revenue officials said the refurbished building is ready for public use and residents can pay a nominal fee to use the facility.