CHEENA KOTTARAM, KOLLAM

The Cheena Kottaram is, in fact, a rest house that was built for Sri Mulam Tirunal Rama 

Varma, the then king of Travancore, when he wanted to travel to Madras by the Kollam/Punalur metre gauge line, which was constructed in 1904.

Although the rest house looks like a one-storied structure, it has only a ground floor, which is probably why it is described in the Railways souvenir `Milestones and Memories,' as resembling a houseboat.

Eugene Pandalam, award-winning architect, says that the architecture is Indo-Saracenic, which is a blend of Moorish (N.W. Africa), Islamic, European, and Indian architecture.

The layout

The rest house has seven rooms, with verandas in the front and to the rear of the building. The porch, which is on the southern side, - long since sealed off, faces the Kollam traffic overbridge.

On the northern side, now the sole entrance and exit, was a little platform, which can still be seen, from which the Maharaja would board his saloon car, which would be linked to the passenger train.

The central edifice has elegant Gothic arches, with stained glass panes in leaden frames, on all sides. Beautiful glass murals, Venetian floor tiles, wood carving that is vintage Kerala, and unique dragon-like wooden supports for the roofs, are the arresting features of the building. The emblem of Travancore, the conch, in granite, figures on the walls on all sides.

Architecture

The original architecture of the rest house was vastly altered when the king stopped visiting the building, and it later served as the Madura sub-division control office, and the Divisional Stores Department, Southern Railway.

Earlier, the central room didn't have an intermediate wooden ceiling, so one could see the top roof, and sunlight filtering downwards through the stained glass of the Gothic arches above, which was a glorious sight, according to a senior citizen.

The original `fish-scale' or palace tiles have been replaced by `straight tiles', which appear out of character with the architectural style.

The verandas, which had lattice and beautiful wooden supports, are now storerooms.

This antique structure, which is one of the landmarks of Kollam city, is yet to be declared a national heritage monument. The Southern Railway realizes the need to preserve the resthouse, and has included it in its list of heritage buildings.

The Kollam city Corporation will be renovating and protecting the historic Cheena Kottaram on railway property near the Chinnakada overbridge at a cost of Rs.40 lakh, Mayor Prasanna Earnest has said.The administrative sanction in this connection had been obtained from the government, she said.The estimate for the project was prepared after talks between the Corporation and the railway authorities.The Mayor said the work would be tendered after obtaining the formal permission from the railways.After renovation the Cheena Kottaram will have its entrance from the Chinnakada underpass point.The property on which it stood would be landscaped and, through an agreement with the railways, visitors would be permitted into it, the Mayor said.

The building was constructed in 1904 as a rest house for the then Travancore Maharaja Sree Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma (1885 to 1924).It was in 1904 that the Shencottai-Kollam meter gauge railway line was commissioned.The line was extended to Thiruvananthapuram only much later. Till that time, the Maharaja used to come to Kollam and rest at the building for boarding the train to Madras.A railway salon car for the Maharaja used to be stationed near the Cheena Kottaram.The building earned the moniker Cheena Kottaram because it resembled traditional Chinese bungalows. Though it looks like a double-storey building from the outside, it is actually a single-storey structure.The building has seven rooms. The Maharaja used to board his salon from a platform on the north side.The building has stained glass on all sides and has richly carved wooden work too.Following the extension of the railway line to Thiruvananthapuram, the Maharaja stopped coming to the Cheena Kottaram.It then went into neglect and later began to serve as offices of the Railways.Lack of maintenance pushed the building into a dilapidated condition and its proximity to the railway goods shed worsened the situation.

Prof. John Kurakar