the poet's epic, the Thirukkural, are inscribed on the granite pillars that surround the auditorium. There is a 101-feet high temple chariot structure with a life-size image of the poet in it. The base of the chariot shows in bas-relief the 133 chapters of the Thirukkural. Railway stations There are a number of railway stations of interest in Chennai, primarily built throughout the colonial era. These include the Egmore station, the Royapuram station dating from 1856, the Chennai Central station dating from 1873 and the Southern Railway Headquarters built in 1922. Other interesting buildings The Government Museum (designed by Henry Irwin and completed in 1896), the Senate House of the Madras University and the College of Engineering, Guindy are some more examples of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. Other buildings of architectural significance are the Presidency College, built in 1840, the Ripon Building (now housing the Chennai Corporation) dating from 1913, The War Memorial, Vivekanandar Illam, The Museum Theatre and the Ramakrishna Math temple. Adjoining the Governor's residence (Raj Bhavan) at Guindy, there are five mandapams (or memorials) dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi, the first Indian Governor General C Rajagopalachari, former Chief Ministers of the state Kamaraj and Bhaktavatsalam and one to Martyrs in general. Urban planning Chennai city is arranged in a grid pattern running north–south and east–west. Roads and localities have undergone significant change in the late 20th century. Many areas along the western stretch of the city were planned development efforts, such as Ashok Nagar, KK Nagar and Anna Nagar. Several areas south of the Adyar River, including Kotturpuram, Besant Nagar and Adyar itself, have been developed only since the mid-1960s. Characteristic features of all these localities are their unusually wide roads and Cartesian grid layouts. Many of these places were remote suburbs when they were first developed. Current urban development efforts are concentrated along the southern and western suburbs, largely seeking to benefit from the growing IT corridor in the southeast and the new ring roads in the west. The National Maritime Complex (NMC) is a proposed facility to be built in Chennai. The extent of the city's urban sprawl is indicated by the fact that the area administered by Chennai Corporation is 174 km2, while the total urbanized area is estimated to be over 1,100 km2. See also List of tallest buildings in Chennai Heritage structures in Chennai References Architecture in India Culture of Chennai Chennai