BENGALURU: While Bengaluru today is dotted with apartment complexes and housing societies, many may not know that one of first steps in this direction was taken by H N Anantharaman, now aged 91, and his 89-year-old brother

way back in the 1970s.

Having been hired as contractors by the

, the duo built the city’s first apartment complex in 1974, which stands tall in Malleswaram even today.

“In the early 1970s, 24 of us got together and bought this plot of land. Anantharaman and Dwarkanath were the contractors, and we all respect them for building such a solid structure,” said

, who moved into her flat in 1974 at the age of 27, following her marriage to Madiman, who was a

scientist.

Sooryakanthi says that while newer and fancier buildings are plagued with problems like seepage and leakage, theirs has a strong foundation. “When workers carry out repairs in our houses, they find it very hard to even drill a nail into the wall,” she added.

The complex comprises a cluster of three-storey buildings, and a majority of the original 24 families continue to live here even though the surroundings have rapidly transformed, with individual houses giving way to large apartment complexes.

Born in Hiremagalur, a hamlet in Chikkamagaluru, the brothers were brought to Bengaluru — where they studied engineering — by their older brother who was working here. After a few years, during which they worked in Tamil Nadu, the brothers decided to get into business and started building water tanks, water treatment plants and civil structures.

“They were ahead of their time. They realised that with the rising growth rate, people would start running out of land to build houses on. So, they started constructing multi-dwelling units and venturing into joint-development projects, which was rare at that time,” said Narayan Babu, Dwarkanath’s son.

“They wanted to build homes for people who had saved their hard-earned money for the purpose, unlike today when people are entering the industry purely for business gains,” said Gopinath, Anantharaman’s son.

The duo worked in tandem — while Anantharaman handled financial matters by meeting people and raising funds, Dwarkanath designed the structure and monitored the work.

The brothers, however, are unhappy with the current state of affairs under which members of lower-income groups are unable to find affordable homes within city limits and so have to live on the outskirts.

Honour for pioneer

Anantharaman was recently honoured by Rotary Bangalore Downtown, and conferred the Rotary Pioneer award in recognition of his “pioneering contributions to the field of group housing and construction by developing the first apartment block in Bengaluru, and establishing the industry association KOAPA (Karnataka Ownership Apartment Promoters’ Association), the precursor to the present CREDAI.”