Vivekananda House
The
state Government has given the building to Sri Ramakrishna Mission
on long lease. It is an imposing building on the Marina along the
beach road constructed in 1842 to store ice bars imported from the
USA by the Tudor ice company and the business was on until 1874,
when the ice was produced locally.
This
is why it is called ICE House even to this day. Later this building
was purchased by Bilagiri lyyengar in 1885 who called it "Castle
Kernon". It was in 1897 Swami Vivkananda visited this city,
after his much acclaimed Chicago Speech,on his return journey to
Calcutta. Swami Vivekananda stayed in this historic building from
Febrauary 6 to 15 in 1897.
The Government took over the building in 1930 and in 1963 it was
named after Vivekananda. On the eve of his Centenary Celebrations,
the building was renovated during December 1999 and the swami's
statue was unveiled by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on the 20th
December 1999. The photographs depicting the historical happenings
associated with his life are displayed here in the Museum.
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