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.
Guindy Lodge, it is believed, was built by Governor William Langhorne (1672-1678) in the early 1670s in garden space carved out of the Guindy Forest that had helped make St. Thomas' mount a salubrious place for rest and recreation.