Forest Department restores Poosi Forest Palace near Arani for public viewing

The Public Works Department (PWD) has handed over the restored British-era Poosi Forest Palace at Poosimalai Kuppam village to the Tamil Nadu Forest Department for public viewing.

Officials of PWD, which executed the mammoth exercise, said that the dilapidated palace had been a structure of neglect for many decades before a government order for its restoration was passed in 2022. Along with K. Sudhakar, District Forest Officer, Collector Vandhana Garg will inspect the restored palace in the coming weeks. 

The entire restoration work was done at a cost of ₹11.54 crore. “The crumbling building lost most of its architectural designs. We had to start from scratch to restore the historical building back to its original splendour,” V. Manikandan, Assistant Engineer (AE), PWD (Tiruvannamalai), told The Hindu.

Located at the centre of S.U. Vanam Reserve Forest, which covers an area 1,379 hectares, the Forest Palace was built by Srinivasa Rao Sahib, 10^th Jagir of Arani region, in 1850.

Local historians said that the palace, spread across 12,000 sq.ft, was used as a camp for Sahib to stay in, during hunting expeditions with his British friends. The palace was designed and constructed by Scottish architect William Pogson, who built the Spencer Plaza in Chennai during the Madras Presidency.  

PWD officials said that the palace was built with chimneys for a fireplace, a unique feature in the region at the time.

The palace has two bedrooms on the ground floor and two on the first floor with attached bathrooms. It has a headroom on the terrace, where soldiers were stationed for security purposes.

Another unique feature of the palace was a separate single storey building that housed the kitchen. It comprises at least five small rooms, some of them used to store groceries and firewood. The kitchen was located on the rear side of the main palace.

Interestingly, Jagir had maintained a pigeon loft between the main palace and kitchen. Historians said that the loft with mud perches were made for communication through pigeons.

In terms of British architecture, PWD officials said the palace was an edifice of traditional building expertise with modern technologies. As the British had access to modern technologies at the time, Jagir made use of steel joists and brick jelly to build the roof of the palace. He also used structural steel pillars, which were imported from Glasgow in Scotland, for rainwater disposal in the building. 

PWD officials said that as part of restoration, which began in mid-2024, historical records and photographs of the building during the British era were analysed to source raw materials and experts for the work. Artisans from Pollachi and Madurai were also roped in to restore the dilapidated palace before it was handed over to the Forest Department.