#history
Connemara Hotel
Chennai.
The Connemara Hotel ( now Taj Vivanta) is the oldest hotel in the city of Madras / Chennai and was considered one of the best hotels in the world during British days.
It was originally, in 1799, the residence of John Binny, one of the wealthiest merchants in Madras ( The road in front of the hotel is named Binny road after him). Binny had purchased the land from his friend, the Nawab Wallajah, the Nawab of Arcot ( also called the Nawab of Carnatic).
In 1854, the building was purchased by Triplicane Rathana velu Muthaliyar and converted into a hotel named the Imperial Hotel. The hotel was renamed The Albany Hotel in 1886.
In 1890, the hotel was purchased by the owner of Spencer & Co, Eugene Philip Oakshott, and renamed Hotel Connemara in honour of the Governor of Madras, Lord Connemara. ( The Connemara Library is also named after him).
Lord Connemara, his wife Susan Georgiana Brown-Ramsey, and the Hotel have an interesting story which became part of history.
Robert Burcke was a prominent politician in Britain when he was named Governor of the Madras Province in British India. He served as Governor from 1881 to 1886 before making an inglorious exit. Robert Burcke was made the Baron of Connemara in 1882. He married Susan, the daughter of Lord Dalhousie, the former Viceroy of India.
It was the practice of the Governor to move to the salubrious climate of Oottacamund ( Ootty) in the summer months to escape the oppressive heat of Madras.
In 1889, the Governor had to return to Madras for urgent official work. Susan, who followed was shocked to discover her husband in a compromising position with a house maid. The furious Lady Connemara stormed out of the house and took residence in the Albany Hotel as its only female guest. She returned to England in November 1889 and promptly filed for divorce on grounds of adultery. The divorce case naturally became one of the most scandalous events in the whole British Empire. The case was decided in favour of the wife Susan, ex parte, in the absence of Lord Connemara.
However the scandal gave good publicity for the hotel and the Bar & Lounge of the hotel was named after its most famous female guest. The Lady Connemara Bar & Lounge is the first licensed bar in the city of Madras.
The Spencers carried out extensive renovations of the hotel from 1934 and was reopened in1937.
It was later leased to the Taj group in 1984 who carried out further modernisation and renovation in 2001 and reopened in 2005.
In 2019, the Taj group took over the hotel on a 100 years lease and renamed it Taj Vivanta.
– Joy Kallivayalil.
p.s:
My sister Geetha Paul , used to live on the next door Commander in Chief road in the 1990s, and during my visits, I had the opportunity to visit Hotel Connemara to attend Rotary meetings.
The wedding reception of my brother Joshy was also held in the hotel since his wife Terry was from Chennai.
It’s a matter of pride that our family friend VJ Chacko, Vachaparampil was the first Indian Managing Director of Spencer & Co.
