Victoria Public Hall  Victoria Public Hall, or the Town Hall, is a historical building in Chennai, named after Victoria, Empress of India. It is one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai and was built to commemorate the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. It served as a theatre and public assembly room in the late 19th century and the early 20th century. It now houses the South Indian Athletic Association Club. In a meeting held in March 1882 at the Pachaiyappa's Hall in George Town by some leading citizens, the decision to construct a town hall for Madras was taken. This resulted in the mobilisation of a sum of 16,425 from around 30 persons who attended the meeting, and a 12-member trust was formed for the execution of the project. The municipal corporation leased a 57-ground (3.14 acres) site in the People's Park to the Victoria Public Hall Trust for 99 years effective from 1 April 1886 at a lease rent of eight annas a ground or 28 for the property. The then Maharajah of Vizianagaram, Sir Pusapati Ananda Gajapati Raju, laid the foundation stone for the new building on 17 December 1883, who also led a list of 35 donors for the construction work with a contribution of 10,000. The list included the Travancore Maharajah ( 8,000), Mysore Maharajah, Pudukottai Rajah and former Madras High Court Judge Muthuswamy Iyer (all 1,000 each) and P.Orr and Sons, a city-based watch company ( 1,400). Other contributors included Ramnad Raja Bhaskara Setupati, Zamindar of Ettiapuram and Hadji Abdul Batcha Sahib. It took about five years to complete the construction. The hall, an example of the Indo-Saracenic architecture, was designed by Robert Fellowes Chisholm (1840-1915) in the Romanesque style and was built by Namperumal Chetty between 1888 and 1890. It was opened to public by Lord Connemara in 1887, although another version suggests that Sir Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff, the governor of Madras during 1886–1890, declared open the hall. In January 1888, a citizens' meeting decided to name the hall after Queen Victoria. The then Municipal Corporation President Sir A.T. Arundale took the initiative.