Being the capital city of Karnataka, Bangalore or Bengaluru is well-known for its tall apartments. With a population of almost ten million, this city is one of the most populous cities in India. While today’s Bengaluru City is dotted with so many tall apartment complexes and complex housing societies, many of us may not know about how the entire infrastructure of the city was developed.
According to the latest source report, the very first step to develop a well-planned city was taken by H N Anantharaman and his brother named H N Dwarkanath. It’s the time of the 1970s when these two brothers built the first even apartment block in the heart of Bengaluru. Mr. H N Anantharaman is now of 91 years old and his bother Mr. H N Dwarkanath is of 89-year-old.
These two brothers were hired as contractors back in the 1970s for the Paresh Apartments Cooperative Housing Society. At that time, the duo was the first two people who built the Bengaluru city’s first apartment complex. The apartment that they built in 1974 is in perfect condition until today and stands tall in Malleswaram area. It’s been almost around 50 years but the apartment complex is still as strong as before.
Sooryakanthi Madiman, the wife of Madiman who was a DRDO scientist, moved into that apartment complex back in 1974 when she was of 27 years old. After her marriage, she started living in the flat. This news was confirmed by her and she thanked the two contractors, Anantharaman and Dwarkanath, for creating such strong and solid apartment building structure for the first time! All the 24 people, who bought the plot of land, respect these two brothers for building such a solid structure.
Today many of the newer and fancier buildings face several problems such as structural problems, seepage and leakage problems, and many more. At the same time, this old apartment complex carries such a strong foundation that plumbers fail to drill in the walls of this 1970s apartment complex. Whenever the workers come to repair some parts of the apartment complex, they find it difficult to even drill.
This old 1970s complex comprises a cluster of a total of three-story buildings and the family members of the original 24 families stay in different flats who actually have bought the land. Though the surroundings of this complex have completely transformed, this apartment stands still!
The two brothers, Anantharaman and Dwarkanath, are the main reason because of whom the apartment complexes started to be developed in Bengaluru. Later, the duo gets into the construction business and started building water treatment plants, water tanks, and civil structures. With the rising growth rate, Bengaluru started transforming into a city with so many tall apartment complexes and housing societies.
Recently, Anantharaman was honored by Rotary Bangalore Downtown. He also received the Rotary Pioneer award in recognition of his contributions to construct the first apartment block in Bengaluru.