Spencer Plaza (Tamil: ஸ்பென்சர் பிளாசா) is a shopping mall located on Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and is one of the modern landmarks of the city. Originally built during the period of the British Raj and reconstructed in 1985 on the site of the original Spencer's department store, it is the oldest shopping mall in India[2] and was one of the biggest shopping malls in South Asia when it was built.[3] It is one of the earliest Grade A commercial projects of the city, which were developed in the second half of the 1990s.[4] As of March 2010, it is the 11th largest mall in the country, with a gross leasable (retail) area of 530,000 sq ft.
Spencer Plaza was built in 1863–1864, established by Charles Durant and J. W. Spencer in Anna Salai, then known as Mount Road, in the Madras Presidency. The property originally belonged to Spencer & Co Ltd. Spencer & Co opened the first department store in the Indian subcontinent in 1895. It had over 80 individual departments. After a few years, Eugene Oakshott, owner of Spencer's, shifted the department store to a new building, which was an example of Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. The building was designed by W. N. Pogson. In 1983, the original building was destroyed in a fire.