Fort St. George symbolises the beginning of British rule in India. Presently it is used as the offices of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat and the Legislative Assembly. Today, it is the commercial center of Chennai where the streets are crowded by the buyers and sellers of different goods.
Fort St. George, a creation of the British in the year 1640 marks the beginning of developing Madras (Chennai) as a modern city. It looks more like a complex of the well-maintained colonial mansions then a fort. It houses a place where Lord Clive - The establisher of British rule in India used to live. Fort St. George houses the tallest towering flagstaff in India. The building had been constructed in a typical English style of architecture of the 17th and 18th century. It once housed the British regiment mess and later the lighthouse.