The earliest official residence of the Governors of Madras were in Fort St. George, the first one built in the 1640s on what is now the Parade Square.

Today it is called Raj Bhavan although previously it was known as Guindy Lodge, the Governor’s country house.

The first private owner mentioned is Mr. Gilbert Ricketts of Madras, who in 1813, was seeking a loan from the government bank.

When Ricketts died intestate in December, 1817, with the property heavily mortgaged to the Bank and one Mr. Griffiths, the estate devolved on the Registrar of the Supreme Court as administrator.

Protracted legal proceedings favoured the Bank which, thereafter, in 1821, offered the property to the Government for a sum of 10,000 pagodas (or Rs.35,000).