Parry’s Corner, Chennai

Parry’s Corner is a well known junction in Chennai, named after the EID Parry’s building that stands at the corner of the intersection of North Beach Road and NSC Bose Road near Madras High Court. Paris or Parrys is a household name among Chennaites, which is an important place for commercial banking and trading and also very famous for bazaars, is one of the most congested areas in Chennai. The NSC Bose Road has many historic buildings and EID Parry’s was the second oldest business house in India exists for more than 200 years.

The EID Parry’s (India) Ltd., date back to 1788 when Thomas Parry arrived in Madras and registered as a free merchant and setup a model business of piece goods and banking. Acquiring the plot and garden house across the way from the High Court, Thomas Parry developed it as the office of Parry and Lane and remodelled the house in Palladian architecture. Followed by several partnerships the firm became Parry & Co in 1839, made it the premier house of business in the South and one of the leading businesses in the country.

The EID Parry’s building, also known as the Dare House is named after John William Dare’s contribution to Parry & Co, as the most significant partner. He was recognised in the name of the Art Deco building that opened its doors on the Parry’s site in 1940, is now houses the headquarters of Murugappa Group. Next to the Parry’s building (on the NSC Bose Road) is the head office of the TNSC Bank.

The six-storied Art Deco building/home was built in 1970 on the pulled down of Ramalingam Building, owned by the Madras Provincial Cooperative Bank. By 1974, when the Bank moved into the new home it become Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Bank come head office.

Between the Anderson Church (see the steeple in left) and TNSC Bank on the NSC Bose Road are the buildings of State Bank of Mysore and LIC Bombay Mutual Insurance. Both the building sits on the site where the Anderson Hall and College exists once. The organisations also used the old buildings till their new once opened in 1957 and 1955 respectively. Interestingly both the buildings are constructed in Art Deco style and the Bank of Mysore (center) is architect by B.R. Manicam who was the architect of Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore.

Source of Reference : Hindu Metro Plus, The house that Parry built