Also called the Vivekananda House, this pink building on Marina Beach is where the famous monk, Swami Vivekananda stayed briefly. Part of the building’s use in the past was as a religious site to commemorate his teachings and journey and the other part was built to house ice. Yes, that’s right, it was built in 1842 to store ice imported from the USA. As there were no freezers back then, they had to have a way to store ice without it melting, hence the odd dome shape you see as it’s best suited to keep the ice cold!
