 The earliest official residence of the Governors of Madras were in Fort St. George, the first one built in the 1640s on what is now the Parade Square.This was pulled down in 1693 and a new one built eastwards where, in later years, it became the core of the Secretariat.When the Governor’s "garden house", was destroyed by the French in 1746, a new garden house was acquired for the Governor after the French withdrawal in 1749.