OOTY STONE HOUSE
Stone house was the first bungalow constructed in Ooty. It was built by John Sullivan in 1822 and was called Kal Bangla by the tribals. Today it is the official residency of the Principal of the Government Arts College Ooty. The tree in front of the bungalow is known as the Sullivan's oak.
By 1822, Sullivan had started building Stonehouse in what was then known as Wotokymond, acquiring land from the Todas at one rupee an acre. He would quickly corner huge tracts of land, many times more than all the other European settlers put together. All the while, Sullivan was peppering his superiors in Madras with letters about the unusually temperate and healthy climate in the Nilgiris and its suitability as a sanatorium. By 1828, there were some 25 European houses, not to mention churches and the houses of immigrants from the plains. This was also the year that Ooty was made a military cantonment. Sullivan's dream of making it a sanatorium for British troops had been fulfilled, but the Government's action meant that Ooty would no longer be in his control but in that of his rival Major William Kelso.
The Stone House in Ooty is one of the most significant and ancient monuments of Ooty that was inadvertently instrumental in the further development of Ooty into a prominent British and European Summer alternative that fostered the Hill Station to presently become one of the most visited Tourist targets in India and worldwide.
The Ooty Stone House was the first building or rather Mansion to be constructed in a modern and yet colonial style in Ooty that indirectly caused further modernization of Ooty with numerous elegant cottages crop up showcasing similar colonial architecture.
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