The Amir Mahal is the official residence of the titular

Nawab of Arcot The Carnatic Sultanate ( Persian: ; Tamil: ; Urdu: ) also known as Carnatic State or Arcot State was a kingdom in southern India between about 1690 and 1855, ruled by a Muslim nawab under the legal purview of the Nizam of Hyderabad, until thei ...

and his family. Situated in

Royapettah Royapettah is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Location Royapettah is located at the central part of the city of Chennai, with an elevation of 9 m (29 ft.) above mean sea level. The neighbourhood comes under Teynampet Zone (numbe ...

, a neighbourhood of

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, India, it was constructed in

Indo-Saracenic Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and gov ...

style in 1798, the Amir Mahal has been the residence of the family since 1876. The Prince of Arcot, Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, lives in the palace with his family.

History

The Amir Mahal was constructed in 1798 by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

to house administrative offices of the company. When the Carnatic kingdom was annexed by the Company in 1855 as per the Doctrine of Lapse, the

Chepauk Palace Chepauk Palace was the official residence of the Nawab of Arcot from 1768 to 1855. It is situated in the neighbourhood of Chepauk in Chennai, India, and is constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. History After the Carnatic ...

, the official residence of the Nawabs, was auctioned off and purchased by the Madras government. The Nawab moved to a building called Shadi Mahal on Triplicane High Road and lived there. However, the British felt that the Shadi Mahal was "not a place fit for the residence of the Prince of Arcot" and granted him the Amir Mahal in

. Robert Chrisholm was given the task of converting the office building into a palace. In 1876, the Nawab moved in with his family into the Amir Mahal. The Amir Mahal has since been the residence of the titular Nawabs of Arcot. Today, Amir Mahal has hidden itself inside the city's chaos and rushed daily life. Rarely known to the locals themselves, this palace continues to function as a royal residential complex. While visitors are rarely allowed inside, it still has entertained several political leaders and celebrities including the Oscar awardee

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

Notes

Royal residences in India Palaces in Tamil Nadu Houses completed in 1798 Buildings and structures in Chennai Heritage sites in Chennai {{India-palace-stub

History

See also

Notes