Udhagamandalam: Sprawling across 1.13 acres on Garden Road in Ooty, the Assembly Rooms, stands tall. Established in 1886, this was a place for entertaining the then British settlers and was known as Ooty’s ‘cinema paradiso’. Nobody knows why it was called ‘Assembly Rooms’ but over the years, it became an institution in Ooty and locally well known as ‘Assems’.
Rummaging through history one finds that in 1922, Lord and Lady Willingdon - Governor of Madras and his wife- purchased the Assembly Rooms presumably from a Mr. Brown, for Rs.50,000. He created a trust with Lady Willingdon as the president, for the proper management and development. As per the trust deed, the Rooms were to be developed as a place for theatres, cultural events and musical performances. The trust deed explicitly states that the Rooms shall not be used at any time for political meetings.