Cliff House is the

official residence An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of th ...

of the

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. '' De facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the state's governor usually invites th ...

, located at Nanthancode in the state capital

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

. The Cliff House is part of Cliff House compound, which houses four other ministerial residences and is located within the state ministerial residential zone. However, the house is a statutory-only official residence, as Indian laws and protocols do not stipulate that ministers live in any particular residence; rather the law defines the minister's actual residence, whether owned privately or by government, as the official residence. Cliff House is preferred as official residence by most of Chief Ministers of Kerala.

History

Cliff House was constructed during the monarchy days of

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

as the official residence of ''Diwan Peshkar'' (Secretary of the state) in charge of Devaswom affairs. Since the headquarters of Travancore Devaswom Office was commissioned at Nanthancode, it was decided to construct official residence of the Peshkar near to it. Post independence, the state PWD took over the house and surrounding land and refurnished as state Guest house. In 1956, it was reclassified as a ministerial residence. When Kerala was formed in 1957, the first Chief Minister,

E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...

chose the house as his official residence, citing its location advantage, instead of Ross House which were used by Chief Ministers of Travancore-Cochin. Most of the Chief Ministers, choose Cliff House as their official residence, primarily motivated by its location. The house rose into a cult status as a center of power, during tenure of K. Karunakaran as Chief Minister. Since 1979, the house has unbroken history of being official residence of Kerala Chief Minister

The Compound

The 4.2 acre campus known as Cliff House Compound, houses the main structure known as Cliff House apart from 4 other ministerial residence. The other 4 ministerial residences; ''Ushus, Ashoka, Nest, Pournami'' share common facilities of the compound.

The House

The two storied Cliff House is built in traditional Kerala architecture with slight influences of colonial English styles. The house has a built up space of 15,000 sqft with 7 bedrooms apart from other quarters for official ministerial staff. Like any other Indian Official residences, no office facility is located inside the house as the house is meant for purely private use of Chief Minister and his family. However a conference room is there inside Cliff House, mainly meant for informal meetings, though no cabinet meetings have ever been conducted here. The house has 4 large verandas, with East Veranda being the largest. East Room is the main formal room where guests are welcomed, though, there are 2 other private formal rooms. A private office, library room, conference room and private staff offices are located in east side. A private living room and dining room are located in west side along other rooms. Most of the bedrooms are located in second floor. Quarters for Ministerial staff like private secretaries, assistants, security staff etc. are built outside the main house

The Exterior

Cliff House compound is spread around 4.2 acres which also includes other ministerial residences. There is no formal gardens inside Cliff House, though a small lawn is well maintained in Eastern side where private tea-parties are conducted. A large part of land is used for farming, started during second tenure of E. K. Nayanar. K. Karunakaran's wife Kalyani ensured that a large vegetable garden is there in Cliff house for their private use, during Karunakaran's tenure as Chief Minister. During tenure of

A. K. Antony Arackaparambil Kurien Antony (born 28 December 1940) is an Indian lawyer, attorney and statesman who served as the Minister of Defence of India from 2006 to 2014, making him the longest serving Defence Minister in India. He previously served as ...

as Chief Minister, he was much interested in setting up a banana farm. After K. Karunakaran met with an accident in early 1990s, a swimming pool was commissioned as advised by doctors for his better health. A security office is located inside the facility to garrison security officials.

History

The Compound

The House

The Exterior

See also

References

Further reading