A Peek into Chettiar Heritage

The Chettiars are also known for the palatial mansions they built seamlessly using wooden pillars, Japanese tiles, Italian marble and imported stained glass.

The massive mansions are known for their pillared halls with tiled floors and ceilings.

Wealth earned from trade and business abroad is used to create artistic mansions back home.

Chettiar mansions are large and imposing structures with high boundary walls.

Public outer spaces are a display of wealth and international influence, replete with imported materials and ornamentations.

Balusters and building fronts incorporate elements of both Indian and foreign styles.

European colonnade-style corridors flank a central courtyard, an innately Indian feature in this Chettiar mansion.

The mansions have large pillared courtyards and halls flanked by multiple rooms, high ceilings, decorated walls and floors.

The pillared halls are given a dramatic flourish, with carefully chosen furniture and geometric-tiled floors.

In this picture, tiles are used in the ceiling of a hall. The Chettiars imported tiles to decorate their mansions. But they soon realised that the repairs of these imported tiles were very expensive due to the non-availability of the spares.

This enterprising community then set up a cottage industry that made replicas of the imported tiles.

Read more about Chettiar crafts here:
- Athangudi Tiles
- Kottan Baskets