Chettinad mansions

Buildings in Tamil Nadu, India

The Chettinad mansions are a collection of over 10,000 lavish homes of the Nattukottai Chettiar community in the region of Chettinad in South India. These mansions were built with materials from all across the globe to signify the community's wealth as merchants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The mansions blended global features with traditional Tamil architecture to form homes for large joint families. Since World War II, conservation efforts have been ongoing to maintain these homes and draw in tourists from across the globe. However, preserving the mansions has been difficult due to legal challenges and cost barriers. The Chettiar community has looked to upkeep their built heritage by leasing the houses to Indian hotel chains and exploring other solutions.

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