Iconic house at T. Nagar where  Kamaraj lived unto the last gets a facelift

A place to ponder: The Kamaraj Memorial House at T. Nagar. It is where major decisions were taken by Kamaraj when he was the Chief Minister and the president of the Indian National Congress.
| Photo Credit: R. Ravindran

In a city like Chennai that is dotted with memorials of political leaders, it is hard to miss the iconic brick red-coloured house on Thirumalai Pillai Road at T. Nagar. This is not just any other heritage structure; it was the home that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Kamaraj rented in the 1950s and lived until his death in 1975.

While it may look like another old house to the untrained eye, it is where several major decisions were taken by Kamaraj, when he was the Chief Minister (1954-1963) and then the president of the Indian National Congress.

Official announcement

Following an announcement in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2024, renovation kicked off at an estimated cost of ₹2.60 crore. According to the Information and Public Relations Department, the work is in full swing, and is expected to get over in a month. “We are fixing issues like water leakage and undertaking paint refurbishment, but everything else will be preserved,” an official said.

Bama Ramaswamy, a 70-year-old resident of T. Nagar, who was passing by the site, couldn’t help but voice her thoughts. “Students who live right here in this neighbourhood might never have stepped inside. These days, life moves so fast, but I wish people, especially the younger ones, pause and learn about the history,” she said. “We need more school and college students visiting places like this one; it should not be a quiet forgotten corner.”

Kamaraj was widely known for increasing the rate of literacy in the State when he was the Chief Minister by providing children with uniforms and mid-day meals.

Quiet and empty

Rajan S., a resident of the neighbourhood, shared his experience of visiting the house before the renovation started. “Each time I went, the place was quiet and almost empty,” he said. “That gave me the space to slow down and pause right from the timeline at the entrance that traces Kamaraj’s journey. The library in the living room is filled with books and his calendar still shows the date he passed away,” he said.

Among the many photographs that adorn the house, one shows him delivering a speech in the erstwhile USSR in 1965. There are invitations from the U.S. government and his replies. Anyone who steps in can also see his possessions — the iconic white shirt, suitcases and Parker pens — and bound to return with a sense of simplicity that he lived in. “Those preserved items should be dusted once in a while. There were not clear descriptions for the exhibits or guides to explain them. Hopefully, this renovation will also fix it,” another visitor said.