According to Swami Vivekananda’s wishes, Swami Ramakrishnananda arrived in Chennai in March 1897. He stayed at a rented house in Triplicane for a few months. Then he came to the Ice House. The Math was based at the Ice House up until the end of 1907. Then it shifted to Mylapore, to a building constructed on a plot gifted by Sri A. Kondiah Chettiar, a close devotee of the Math. Surrounding plots were acquired in subsequent years. Due to structural damage to the existing building, another building was constructed and this building was consecrated by Swami Brahmananda, the first President of Ramakrishna Order, in the year 1917. This remains now as the ‘Old Temple’. Apart from the fact that the Math in Chennai was founded by Swami Ramakrishnananda, who lived here for a long time, the Math was also sanctified by the visits of Holy Mother Sri Sarada Devi, Swamis Brahmananda, Premananda, Shivananda, Abhedananda and Vijnanananda, all direct disciples of Sri Ramakrishna.