Vivekananda Illam was formerly the Ice House of the Tudor Ice Company. This was the place in which Vivekandanda spent nine days when he was in Chennai in 1897. So the Government of Chennai purchased this building and named it as Vivekananda Illam in 1963.

This building was constructed in 1842 by Ice King Frederic Tudor. Later it was renamed as Castle Kernan and then as Vivekananda Illam. The building is spherical in shape with three storeys and has many unique features such as semicircular corridors, hemispherical dome and square plan. In the second floor of the building is the room in which Vivekananda stayed and it is at present maintained as the meditation room.