St John’s Church Road is named after the singlemost important landmark on this road — St John’s Church, which is over 150 years old. This road which is about two kilometres long begins at a junction on Dickenson Road brushes past Promenade Road at Mother Theresa Circle, passes over Wheeler Road-Kamaraj Road junction and ends at the Haines Road-Miller’s Road junction.
This road was once famous for cinema theatres located in close proximity — Lakshmi Theatre, Shree Theatre, Lavanya Theatre and Naga theatre But alas, all but Lavanya theatre survives. Shree Theatre has become Shree Complex, Lakshmi theatre is demolishes and a commercial complex is being constructed.
Naga, one of the biggest and popular theatre too has been demolished. The vacant plot now awaits the construction of yet another commercial complex or perhaps a mall. Of course there is the Ajanta theatre (off St John’s Road).
There are signs of the strong presence of the Mudaliar community. The Dharmaratnakara Arcot Narrainswamy Mudaliar choultry with a spacious compound and the Subramanya Swamy Temple is found at the beginning of the road. Some of the dozen odd educational institutions of the Rao Bahadur Arcot Narrainswamy Mudaliar Educational Charities Trust are also found on this road. The Sankata Hari Vinayaka Swamy temple, a street shrine is popular among the local devotees.
Educational institutions
The Bhavasar Kshatriya community is also among the early settlers of this area. Institutions like Bhavasar Kshatriya Samaj Trust High School and Bhavasar Kshatriya Co-operative Bank Limited found on this road are contributions of the community.
Educational institution on this road include the Kendriya Vidyalaya, B M English School and the Lourdes Convent in the premises of St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral. F M Maneckshaw Enclave is a military residential quarters. A few apartment blocks have come up like the Sobha Ivory.
Religious places
St John's Church, Bangalore though built in 1858, has a history dating back to 1853 for in it's neighbourhood (Haines Road) there was a Chapel built in 1853, and named after the locality "Mootoo Cherry". Very soon it was filled to capacity and later the congregation was shifted to a bigger Church — the St John's Church. Mootoo Cherry was occupied by the poor Tamil settlers from North and South Arcot Districts.
A bit of history
Fr Chevalier, the first Parish Priest built the first Church of St Francis Xavier in 1851, on a site measuring 550 feet square. The old Church was becoming inadequate due to growing population. The foundation stone for the new Church was laid in 1911. To raise funds, Fr Servanton tapped every source by personal appeals, holding concerts and dramas. He went with a begging bowl from door to door. Finally, his dream was realised after 21 years of toil, the new Church was opened on 26th May 1932. During his 50 years,
Fr Servanton tirelessly and died in 1948. The BMP (now BBMP) honoured him after his death, by naming the Circle in front of St Germain High School as "Father Servanton Circle" in 1961. The Church became a cathedral in 1940 when Bangalore became a separate diocese.
