The LIC building was the tallest in India when it was inaugurated on August 23, 1959. The construction of the building, designed by London-based architects H.J. Brown and L.C. Moulin, began in 1952. The architects withdrew in 1957 and the work was overseen by Chennai-based architect L.M. Chitale.
(From the pages of The Hindu dated August 24, 1959)
The Life Insurance Corporation’s modern skyscraper constructed on the city’s arterial highway, Mount Road, was declared open last evening by Mr. Morarji Desai, Union Finance Minister. The towering structure, erected at a cost of ₹87 lakh, was hailed as an adornment to the city and a symbol of L.I.C’s aspiration to provide life insurance protection to every single citizen in the country.
Mr. Morarji Desai said he shared with the public their feeling of the deficiencies of the L.I.C. and asked the Corporation to pay “greater and greater attention” to the complaints and remove them.
Mr. Desai said the progress made by the L.I.C. was good but “to my mind not as ambitious as it should be.” He would like the Corporation to achieve in two years what it had planned to do in five years from 1959.
To mark the opening of the building, the Union Finance Minister pressed an electric button when a commemoration plaque fixed on the ground floor wall was unveiled. While holiday crowds gathered on the pavements of Mount Road to watch the opening ceremony, a large and distinguished gathering was present at the quadrangle behind the building where the function was held.
Repeated sharp showers greeted the opening of the 14-storeyed building and punctuated the proceedings. As Mr. P.A. Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of the L.I.C., was half-way through his welcome address, a drizzle started and soon developed into sharp showers. While the gathering rushed to nearby shelter, the Minister took the opportunity to go round the building. He went up by the lift to the top of the 177-feet tall building and had a panoramic view of the city.
The rain stopped in a few minutes and the gathering re-assembled, when Mr. Gopalakrishnan continued his speech. Later, when the Minister was speaking, there was a slight drizzle but it stopped after a few seconds. A heavy downpour descended on the gathering as the Minister was finishing his speech.
The multi-storeyed building, which occupies 52,800 square feet consists of a basement, ground floor and 12 upper floors providing ultra modern office accommodation for over 1,500 persons. The building has five automatic lifts. Conceived in 1952 by the late Mr. M. Ct.M. Chidambaram Chettiar, Chairman of the United India Life Assurance Company Limited, the “tallest building in India” was to be jointly owned by the United India and its associate, New Guardian of India Life Insurance Company Limited.