The house with a thousand windows in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu is quite a popular piece of architecture and has been a tourist spot for many years.The Chettiars, an affluent business community in Karaikudi, Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu, constructed this historic edifice. Constructed in 1941, the 20,000 square foot structure currently serves as a shooting site for films. But there is yet another piece of architecture whose legacy remains buried in the sand of time. A house with 68 doors, unknown to many, is located in ChettiKurichi village under Aruppukottai taluk of Virudhunagar district.
Burmese teak wood was used to construct the Chettinad-style home’s door windows and frame. Burma teak panels are fitted to each room’s entry and exit doors. Since the house is old, a cement and sand mixture was not used in its construction. There is a courtyard which ensures ample sunlight entering the house and there is also a chimney.
Six generations ago, brothers Chinnaiyan Chettiar and Guruswamy Chettiar went from Tamil Nadu to Burma to work in the diamond business and made a lot of money. On one of their trips home, they built this house, with each room having multiple doors, some of which were exits to the outdoors, and some which simply opened into another room. Later, the brothers came back from Burma and settled in the dream house that they had built. The house was later partitioned with a wall separating the east and west wings, each occupied by each brother and his family.
The current owner of the house Kashi Viswanathan, who is a descendant of the Chettiars, says that apart from the wall that partitions the house into two, the palatial building remains as it was when it was built years ago. The 68 doors, which is the USP of the house, still exist.
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