Robert Chisholm (architect)

{{Short description|English architect active mainly in India}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Use British English|date=November 2012}} {{Infobox architect | name = | image = Robert Fellowes Chisholm in WT Pike London (23f).jpg | image_size =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Robert Fellowes Chisholm | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1840|01|11}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1915|05|28|1840|01|11}} | death_place = Southsea, England | other_names = | alma_mater = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | awards = | practice = | significant_buildings = Senate House, Madras<br>Laxmi Vilas Palace<br> Cadogan Hall | significant_projects = | significant_design = Pioneer of Indo-Saracenic style | signature = | website =  | embedded =  }} '''Robert Fellowes Chisholm''' (11 January 1840 – 28 May 1915) was a British architect who pioneered the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture in Madras.

== Early life ==

Chisholm was born in London on 11 January 1840<ref name=":0" /> (or on 3 November 1838, according to the Royal Institute of British Architects), and had his early education in the United Kingdom, practising as a talented landscape painter in London during his youth. On completion of his education, he arrived at Calcutta, India and moved to Madras in 1865, where he was appointed head of the school of industrial art.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordartonline.com/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000017273|title=Chisholm, Robert Fellowes {{!}} Grove Art|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T017273|access-date=2018-08-08}}</ref>

He was an active freemason, and Worshipful Master of the Lodge Perfect Unanimity, in its Centenary Year (1886). <ref>{{Cite web |title=Madras Musings - We care for Madras that is Chennai |url=https://archive.madrasmusings.com/Vol%2020%20No%2011/a_250_year_connection_with_the_city.html |access-date=2025-12-29 |website=archive.madrasmusings.com}}</ref>

== Career == thumb|Nilgiri Library, Ootacamund, designed by Chisholm in 1865-67 thumb|Napier Museum, designed by Chisholm In that same year, 1865, Chisholm began to design the older building of Presidency College, Madras. He initially constructed buildings in the Renaissance and Gothic styles of architecture.<ref name="encyclopediaarchitectsp415">{{cite book|title=Macmillan encyclopedia of architects, Volume 1|page=415|first=Adolf|last=K. Placzek|publisher=Free Press|year=1982|isbn=0029250005}}</ref> Also in 1865–67, he was designing the Nilgiri Library in Ootacamund (completed in 1869), and the Lawrence Memorial School in that same town (1865–69). The revenue board building in the Chepauk Palace complex, which was constructed by Chisholm in 1871,<ref name="muthiahp166168">Muthiah, pp. 166–168</ref> was his first in the Indo-Saracenic or Muslim style of architecture.<ref name="jointenterpriserp44">{{cite book|title=A Joint Enterprise: Indian Elites and the Making of British Bombay|page=44|year=2011|first=Preeti|last=Chopra|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-0816670376}}</ref><ref name="britishdesignp278">{{cite book|title=British provincial civic design and the building of late-Victorian and Edwardian cities, 1880–1914|first=Ian|last=Morley|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|year=2008|page=278}}</ref> Chisholm later emerged as a pioneer in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture.<ref name="roughguidep421">{{cite book|title=The Rough Guide to South India|page=421|first1=David|last1=Abram|first2=Nick|last2=Edwards|publisher=Rough Guides|year=2003|isbn=1843531038}}</ref><ref name="cmda">{{cite web|title=Indo-Saracenic Architecture in Chennai|first=George J.|last=Jeyaraj|url=http://www.cmdachennai.gov.in/pdfs/seminar_heritage_buildings/Indo_Saracenic_Architecture_in_Chennai.pdf|publisher=Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority|access-date=17 September 2011|archive-date=25 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210725063408/http://www.cmdachennai.gov.in/pdfs/seminar_heritage_buildings/Indo_Saracenic_Architecture_in_Chennai.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Chisholm also constructed the Lawrence Asylum buildings (1865), Napier Museum Trivandrum,<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Thiruvananthapuram/article2499934.ece | location=Chennai, India | work=The Hindu | first=G. | last=Anand | title=Museum band stand mayecho martial music again | date=30 September 2011}}</ref> Presidency College, Madras (1865–70) the Senate buildings of the University of Madras (1874–79),<ref name="roughguidep421" /><ref name="cmda" /><ref name="thehindu_20060903">{{cite news|title=Magnificience Restored|work=The Hindu|url= http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/09/03/stories/2006090300180200.htm|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071230002541/http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/09/03/stories/2006090300180200.htm|url-status= dead|archive-date= 30 December 2007|date=3 September 2006|first=S.|last=Muthiah|author-link=S. Muthiah|location=Chennai, India}}</ref> offices of the P. Orr & Sons<ref name="muthiahp62">Muthiah, p 62</ref> and the Post and Telegraph Office in Ootacamund (1875–83). Chisholm also enlarged and constructed a pavilion at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium.<ref name="muthiahp170">Muthiah, p 170</ref> Chisholm was appointed Consulting Architect to the Government of Madras in 1872 and served from 1872 to 1886.<ref name="muthiahp155">Muthiah, p 155</ref> In 1876 he was appointed to the newly established executive committee of management of the Madras School of Arts,<ref name=sj-daniel>{{cite book |last=Daniel |first=S. J. |editor1-last=Clibborn |editor1-first=John |editor2-last=Radice |editor2-first=C. A. |editor3-last=Enthoven |editor3-first=Reginald Edward |editor3-link=Reginald Edward Enthoven |editor4-last=Westcott |editor4-first=Foss |editor4-link=Foss Westcott |title=Report on Industrial Education Part II Proceedings of Conferences |url=http://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/26872/GIPE-015605.pdf |location=Calcutta |publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing |date=1903 |pages=171–174 |chapter=A Brief History of the Madras School of Arts |access-date=6 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171011075713/http://dspace.gipe.ac.in/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10973/26872/GIPE-015605.pdf |archive-date=2017-10-11 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{rp|173}} and was Officiating Superintendent of that institution from 1877 to 1883.<ref name=sj-daniel/>{{rp|171}} He was also responsible for the Bombay Municipal Offices and the immense Laxmi Vilas Palace in Baroda (Vadodara) during 1880–90. He returned to London in 1902, where his best-known London building is Cadogan Hall (originally First Church of Christ, Scientist), near Sloane Square. He also designed an uncompleted Indian Museum in Belvedere Road, Lambeth, London.<ref name=":0" />

== Death ==

Chisholm died on 28 May 1915 at Southsea at the age of 75.<ref name=":0" />

== Notes ==

== References == * {{cite book | title=Madras Rediscovered| last=Muthiah| first=S.| year=2004| author-link=S. Muthiah| publisher=East West Books (Madras) Pvt Ltd| isbn=81-88661-24-4|ref=Muthiah}} * Hockings, Paul: Encyclopaedia of the Nilgiri Hills, pt. 1 (2012). New Delhi: Manohar Publishers (New Delhi). {{ISBN|978-81-7304-893-7}}

==External links== {{Commons category-inline|Robert Chisholm (architect)}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chisholm, Robert}} Category:1840 births Category:1915 deaths Category:Architects from British India Category:19th-century Indian architects Category:People from the Madras Presidency Category:Architects from London Category:British people in British India Category:History of Chennai