Features

The building boom that transformed Colombo over 100 years ago

Published

3 years ago

2023/03/5

by Hugh Karunanayake

Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was then called, had hardly any commercial or mercantilism during the nineteenth century when it was gradually emerging from a peasant society into a plantation economy. There were two major factors which contributed towards the commercialization of Colombo as a city. The first was the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 which made a tremendous impact on trade relations between the occident and the orient. The other significant factor was the construction of the South Western Breakwater enabling the entry of steam ships into Colombo’s harbour.

Up until then Galle was the main port of Ceylon and the city of Galle was the main centre for shipping to and from the country. During most part of the 19th century, the Galle harbour apart from being the port of entry and departure for international travel, was also the centre of what could be described as a service hub for tourists. During that time there were only two hotels in Colombo that would serve the needs of international travelers, the Royal Hotel which stood at the site of the present General Post Office in Queen Street, and the Galle Face Hotel, then known as the Galle Face Boarding House.

The city of Galle however had about half a dozen hotels with desirable levels of occupancy by visitors arriving in the island. Excepting the Pavilion Hotel run by Mrs Braybrooke, located across the road facing the Ramparts, the others were all located within the Fort of Galle. There was Eglington Hotel in Hospital Street, Loret’s Hotel in Middle Street, the Sea View Hotel in Church Street run by the Ephraums family, and the Oriental Company’s Hotel also in Church Street, later acquired by the Ephraums family and run as New Oriental Hotel.

The other major tourist related industry was the gem and jewellery shops of which there were also about ten all located in the Fort and especially in Middle Street. With the opening of the South Western Breakwater, the first stages of the development of Colombo as a harbour city, commenced. It also heralded the beginning of the decline of the use of the Port of Galle and its related enterprises, as the ship chandlering businesses, and the jewellery and gem traders all moved to Colombo.

Although the first stream ship to traverse the Suez Canal to Colombo “The Wm Miller” arrived at the post of Colombo on 10 February 1870, the facilities for harbouring of such a craft were not fully available. A deputation from the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce presented a petition to the government in September 1870 urging the government for better harbouring facilities. Two months later government plans to expand the Galle harbour were officially abandoned. In the following year, 1871, the walls of the Dutch Fort of Colombo were demolished and the surrounding moats filled.

In 1875 the foundation stone for the construction of the South West Breakwater of the Colombo harbour was laid by the visiting Prince of Wales. The completion of the project took a few years and was carried out by Resident Engineer Mr John Kyle under the direction of Sir John Coode the most distinguished harbour engineer in the world.

He successfully implemented several harbour and river improvement projects in various parts of the British Empire including Australia where he planned and oversaw some changes to the gradient of the Yarra River. Through his expertise, the Colombo harbour was facilitated to receive any size of ship traversing the oceans by the 1890s.

The facilities provided by the harbour created a natural demand for greater commercial activity. At the cusp of the new commercialization was a desire to erect buildings such as those that had been erected in other parts of the Empire. Possibly the first building to herald the late Victorian/Edwardian building boom in the Colombo Fort was the construction of the General Post Office on the site where the Royal Hotel stood. The Royal Hotel was the only hotel in the Fort. Built on neo classical lines.

It was run by a Sinhalese dubasher with the unlikely name of Morris! The GPO was planned by Mr Tunstall an architect and implemented under the supervision of Mr Tomalin of the PWD in the early 1890s. The GPO was the largest building of the time in Colombo and when completed was open to the public for several days during which thousands gazed in wonder at the masterpiece!

During the security clamp of the late 20 th Century around Presidents House which stands opposite to the GPO, the building had remained unoccupied for many years, and remains so now. A sad finale to a building with a glorious past. It is heartening to note that there are no plans to demolish this splendid piece of colonial architecture which is part of our national heritage.

In about 1895 the Fort Land and Building Company acquired the block of land on York Street where National Grindlays Bank stands right up to the road facing the jetty. At the time the upper part of York Street consisted of small shops mainly jewellery and curio shops.

The Company demolished the existing small buildings and constructed Victoria Arcade and the building which the Grindlays Bank now occupy. On the opposite side of York Street stood Cargills then a single storied shop. It was previously a residence for Mr Phillip Sluyskens a Dutch resident who moved to his country house in Kelaniya after Cargills purchased his house.

Walker and Sons the pre eminent engineering firm even then, were occupying a small building at the Fort end of Main Street, which they demolished and constructed a large elegant three storied building completed in 1911. Walkers were the contractors for a new building for Cargills Ltd and their newly constructed building in Main Street were let out temporarily to Cargills. A large wooden carving of Minerva the Goddess was found during the construction of Cargills and it was placed in a niche in the new building and could be seen to this day.

In about 1915 the new building for Mr Abdul Cafoor the gem merchant was constructed in Main Street, and from the time of its opening the firm of HW Cave and Sons were the principal tenants, having moved from Amens Corner where the Bogala Building stands in Upper Chatham Street facing the Baurs Building. The Bogala building was originally the property of Sir Charles Henry de Soysa, the first Ceylonese millionaire. Sadly, the Gafoor building has passed its use by date and in recent years rendered unsuitable for occupation due to instability. Measures were afoot to stabilize the building, but this writer is not aware of the outcomes.

Now here is the story behind Australia Building, a building in the heart of Colombo named after Australia, a quizzical name which kept many wondering about its background. In about 1895 the old Millers building on York Street, a single story unkempt building, was auctioned. The buyer was Kerri Davies an Australian timber merchant who had business connections with Mr R B Carson the founder of Carson Cumberbatch and Co. Mr Davies constructed the new building which was to house Millers Ltd and the building was named Australia Building to honour the nationality of its owner..

Bristol Hotel was under the management of Mr WST Saunders who decided to add a new wing with a theatre but the construction proved to be unsuitable and the wing was used to create more bedrooms for the Hotel which was then very upmarket. Incidentally, the Bristol Hotel was the first building in Colombo to boast of ceiling fans. The honour of being the first building to be supplied with electricity goes to the Colombo Club on Galle Face which was “electrified” in 1893.The Bristol Hotel followed shortly thereafter.

St Andrews Church stood on Prince Street, and moved to its new premises on Galle Road Kollupitiya in 1912. Its site was used to construct the building of another large departmental store Whiteaway Laidlaw and Co already well established in places like Hong Kong, Saigon and Singapore. Part of the Whiteaway building was sold to Freudenberg and Co to subsidize cost of construction.

Soon after, Harrisons and Crosfield whose predecessors Crosfield, Lampard and Co occupied a site on Victoria Arcade sought to construct a new building. The new Harrisons and Crosfield building five stories high brought the Fort landscape to new heights. All these new structures which appeared during the last decade of the 19th Century and the first two decades of the twentieth century, gave Colombo a new look and an air of sophistication and confidence which did the British Empire proud.

Many, if not all the major building around Colombo, were constructed by the engineering firm of Walker Sons and Co established in 1854. It engaged two principal contractors to work under its supervision Messr UDS Gunasekera and Wapiche Marikkar. In 1904 the company published a booklet containing testimonials and illustrations of some of the principal buildings erected by them in Ceylon of which many were in Colombo.

They included Australia Building, the Victoria Building, the P and O office, the National Bank of India Ltd, Messrs Cargills Building, Whiteaway Laidlaw and Co, Miller and Co. The role of Walkers in the rebuilding of Colombo is little remembered today, but the strikingly beautiful Victorian and Edwardian architecture that dominates the Fort landscape does the country proud, and the buildings now preserved for posterity. Fortunately many of the buildings referred to, have been left intact, with Commercial development in recent decades mainly occurring along the Galle Road and Duplication Road areas.

The Fort area being subject to security containment due to the location of President’s House within the Fort, has in recent decades seen some unintended consequences in the preservation of the beautiful old Victorian and Edwardian structures. It has to be remembered that the concept of the multi department store as was seen in Cargills Ltd, Miller Ltd, Whiteaway Laidlaw and Co, Colombo Apothecaries Ltd now seems to be obsolete.

In its day and age when Britannia ‘ruled the waves’ and also ‘waived the rules’ products from Britain totally dominated the market. Those days are now long past, and so are the products from the Metropolitan power that fed those large departmental stores. Post World War 2 developments saw the emergence of Japan, Korea, China and other countries of the East emerging as the dominant leaders of markets for consumables. The supermarket concept has arrived and is bound to dominate commercial activity relating to the household sector for years to come.

The significance of the Colombo harbour as a passenger port also has greatly diminished with cheaper, faster, air travel, now being the popular mode of international travel. However the challenge is for our urban planners to make a viable “heritage precinct” within the Fort retaining the Department Store as a feature of the City’s heritage. Harrods in London, and the House of Tang in Singapore are two colonial departmental stores that have withstood the challenges of modernism, and perhaps the time is opportune for us to take a closer look at similar opportunities.

Despite the onward march of time, the old Fort of Colombo holds some treasured memories for those of us who lived through that quiet, almost forgotten, genteel era and the time may be ripe to preserve the spirit of a bygone age to be savoured by present and future generations.

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Features

The Digital Pulse: How AI is redefining health care in Sri Lanka?

Published

23 hours ago

2026/04/20

Thilina Walpola

A quiet yet profound shift is underway in American healthcare, and its implications extend far beyond the United States’ borders. A recent Associated Press report describes a scene that would have seemed improbable, even five years ago: a woman in Texas, experiencing side effects from a weightloss injection, does not call her doctor, visit a clinic, or even search Google. Instead, she opens her phone and consults ChatGPT. She tells the system how she feels, describes her symptoms, and receives an instant explanation. This behaviour, once the domain of early adopters and technology enthusiasts, has now entered the mainstream. A West Health–Gallup poll confirms that nearly onequarter of American adults used an AI tool for health information or advice in the previous month. For a country with one of the world’s most expensive and fragmented healthcare systems, this shift is not merely a technological curiosity. It is a sign of the public searching for speed, clarity, and affordability in a system that often fails to provide any of these.

Sri Lanka, though vastly different in scale, culture, and resources, is not insulated from this global transformation. If anything, the pressures that drive Americans toward AI—long wait times, high costs, difficulty accessing specialists—are even more acute in our own health system. The difference is that Sri Lanka is only beginning to experience the cultural and institutional adjustments that accompany widespread AI use. Yet the trajectory is unmistakable. What is happening in the United States today is almost certainly a preview of what will happen here tomorrow in Sri Lanka, though in a form shaped by our own social realities, linguistic diversity, and healthcare traditions.

The American experience shows that AI is becoming the new gateway to health information. As Dr. Karandeep Singh of UC San Diego observes, AI tools now function as an improved version of the old Google search. Instead of sifting through dozens of links, users receive a concise, conversational summary tailored to their question. This is precisely the kind of convenience that Sri Lankans, too, will find irresistible. In a country where a single specialist appointment can require hours of travel, waiting, and uncertainty, the appeal of an instant, alwaysavailable digital assistant is obvious. The idea that one could ask a question about a rash, a fever, a medication side effect, or a lab report and receive an immediate explanation—without navigating hospital queues or private consultation fees—will inevitably attract public interest. For example, one of my friends, who was with me in school, called me and said he is prescribed Linavic, a drug for type 2 diabetes. I told him that, as it is not widely known in the USA, to give me the generic name. He searched ChatGPT and told me it is called Tradjenta, which is widely available in the USA as a prescription drug for type 2 diabetes.

But Sri Lanka’s path will not be identical to America’s. Our adoption of AI in healthcare is emerging through institutions rather than individuals. Nawaloka Hospitals has already introduced AI-powered chatbots, including NASHA, an OPD assistant capable of guiding patients through symptom assessment and basic triage. This is a significant development because it signals that Sri Lankan hospitals are preparing for a future in which AI is not an optional addon but a core part of patient interaction. The government’s draft National AI Strategy reinforces this direction by identifying healthcare as a priority sector and emphasising responsible, transparent, and safe deployment. Academic bodies, such as the Sri Lanka Medical Association, have also begun training clinicians to understand and work alongside AI systems. These are early but important steps, suggesting that Sri Lanka is building the professional ecosystem needed for safe AI integration.

Yet, the public’s relationship with AI remains limited. Unlike in the United States, where consumers independently experiment with tools like ChatGPT, Sri Lankans tend to rely on doctors as the primary source of authority. Digital literacy varies widely, especially outside urban centres. Sinhala and Tamilcapable AI tools are still developing. And our society has a long history of health misinformation spreading rapidly through social media, from miracle cures to conspiracy theories. Without careful regulation and public education, AI could amplify these risks rather than reduce them. The danger is not that AI will replace doctors, but that poorly informed users may treat AI outputs as definitive diagnoses, bypassing professional care when it is urgently needed.

At the same time, Sri Lankans’ lived experiences reveal why AI will inevitably become part of the healthseeking landscape. Anyone who has visited the outpatient department of a major government hospital knows the reality: queues forming before dawn, patients clutching files and prescriptions, and overworked medical officers trying to see hundreds of cases in a single shift. In rural areas, the situation is even more challenging. A villager in Monaragala or Mullaitivu may have to travel hours to see a specialist, often relying on neighbours or family for transport. Many postpone care simply because they are unsure whether a symptom is serious enough to justify the journey. For such individuals, an AI-based triage tool—available on a basic smartphone, in Sinhala or Tamil—could be transformative. It could help them decide whether to seek immediate care, wait for the next clinic day, or manage the issue at home.

Sri Lanka’s private healthcare sector, too, is ripe for AI integration. Private hospitals are increasingly turning to digital systems for appointment scheduling, lab report delivery, and patient communication. Anyone who has waited for hours at a private OPD, despite having an appointment, knows the frustration. AI-driven systems could help streamline patient flow, predict peak times, and reduce bottlenecks. They could also assist doctors by summarising patient histories, flagging potential drug interactions, and providing evidencebased guidelines. For patients, AI could offer explanations of lab results in simple language, reducing anxiety and improving understanding.

There are already glimpses of this future. Some Sri Lankan patients, especially younger urban professionals, quietly admit that they use AI tools to interpret their blood tests before seeing a doctor.

Others use AI to understand the side effects of medications prescribed to them. Parents use AI to check whether a child’s fever pattern is typical or concerning. Migrant workers, returning home for short visits, use AI to prepare questions for their doctors, ensuring they make the most of limited consultation time. These behaviours mirror the early stages of the American trend, though on a smaller scale.

Sri Lanka’s cultural context will shape how AI is used. Our society places great trust in doctors, often viewing them as authoritative figures whose word should not be questioned. This trust is a strength, but it can also discourage patients from seeking information independently. AI has the potential to shift this dynamic—not by undermining doctors, but by empowering patients to participate more actively in their own care. A patient who understands their condition is better able to follow treatment plans, ask relevant questions, and recognise warning signs. AI can support this empowerment, provided it is used responsibly.

The deeper question is not whether Sri Lanka will adopt AI in healthcare, but how. The American example shows both the promise and the peril. AI can democratise access to information, reduce anxiety, and empower patients. But it can also mislead, oversimplify, or create false confidence. The challenge for Sri Lanka is to build a culture of responsible use—one that recognises AI as a tool, not a substitute for clinical judgment. Hospitals must ensure accuracy and transparency. Regulators must set standards. And the public must learn to treat AI as a guide, not a guru.

Sri Lanka has an opportunity to leapfrog. By studying the American experience, we can avoid its pitfalls and adopt its strengths. We can design AI systems that respect our linguistic diversity, our cultural habits, and our healthcare realities. We can integrate AI into hospitals in ways that enhance, rather than erode, the doctor-patient relationship. And we can prepare our citizens to use these tools wisely, with curiosity but also with caution.

The transformation is already underway. It will accelerate whether we prepare for it or not. The question for Sri Lanka is whether we will shape this future deliberately or allow it to shape us by default. The American shift toward AImediated healthcare is a reminder that technology does not wait for societies to catch up. It moves forward, and nations must decide whether to follow passively or lead thoughtfully. Sri Lanka, with its strong public health tradition and growing technological ambition, has every reason to choose the latter.

by Prof Amarasiri de Silva

Features

Not a dog barked

Published

23 hours ago

2026/04/20

Thilina Walpola

I began running on the beach after a fall on a broken pavement left me with a head injury and a surgically repaired eyebrow. Mount Lavinia beach, world‑famous and crowded, especially on Sundays, is only a seven‑minute walk from home, so it became the obvious place for my rehabilitation jogs.

On my first day, my wife, a true Mount Lavinia girl, accompanied me. Though we’ve been married for over 40 years, this was the first time I had ever jogged on the beach. She practically shepherded me there and watched from a safe distance as I made my way towards the Wellawatte breakwater. Dogs were everywhere: some strays, some with collars. I’m not usually afraid of dogs, so I ran past them confidently. Then one fellow barked sharply, making me stop. He advanced even after I stood still. I bent down, picked up some sand, and only then did he retreat, still protesting loudly. On my return run, he repeated the performance.

The next time, I carried a stick. The beach was quiet, perhaps my friend had taken the day off. But on the third day he was back, barking as usual. I showed him the stick and continued. Further along, more dogs barked, and I repeated the ritual. Soon I found myself growing jittery, even numb, whenever I approached a dog. Jogging was no longer comfortable.

My elder daughter, an ardent animal lover who keeps two dogs and wanting to have more, suggested bribery, specifically, biscuits. So, on my next run, I filled my pocket with them. When the usual culprit appeared, I tossed him a biscuit before he could bark. He sniffed suspiciously, then ate it. I jogged on. The rest of the “orchestra” received similar treatment and promptly forgot to bark. Not a dog barked the entire run, or on my way back.

Some groups had five or six dogs, but bribing the noisiest one was enough to quieten the rest. Soon they grew used to me running close to them, and the biscuits made me a trusted friend. These round little sugary crackers turned out to be the perfect currency for seemingly aggressive but essentially harmless dogs, a fact well known to my daughter, Dr. Honda Hitha, but a revelation to me.

One day, a friendly dog decided to escort me home. After receiving his biscuit, he lingered near our gate before returning to the beach. Over time, the number of escorts grew until I found myself flanked by about 10 canine disciples. They became my strength instead of a source of fear. They were darlings. Unlike humans, their affection, even if won initially with biscuits, soon became unconditional.

They still accompany me home, whether or not they receive a treat. Bless them! May they be born human in their next lives, perhaps the only way our wicked world can become a better place.

by Dr. M. M. Janapriya

Features

It’s Israel and US that need a regime change

Published

23 hours ago

2026/04/20

Thilina Walpola

Netanyahu and Trump

If there is one country that urgently needs a regime change it is Israel. The whole world is suffering and thousands of people, including children and women, are dying due to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political survival strategy. He needs the war to avoid going to jail and also certain defeat at the next elections. The corruption and other charges against him, if proved, would send him to jail. He had asked the Israel President for a pardon and his friend Trump also has written to the President, on his behalf.

Netanyahu is able to commit genocide in Gaza with impunity because the US backs him to the hilt, economically, politically, militarily and also in the United Nations. Without all this, Israel will not be able to fight its many wars and pursue its “Greater Israel” project in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and also weaken the countries that oppose its grand plan, such as Iran, Yemen and Turkey. The US gives military aid to Israel, worth USD 3.8 bn, annually, which is used in these genocidal wars and expansionist projects. The US is, therefore, complicit in all these war crimes.

US presidents, beginning from Eisenhower (1950) to Joe Biden (2022), expressed displeasure at Israeli aggression. Ronald Reagan halted the shipment of cluster artillery shells, in 1982, over concerns about their use against civilians in Lebanon, and delayed the delivery of F-16 warplanes until Israel withdrew from Lebanon. George H.W. Bush (1990s) postponed $10 billion in loan guarantees in 1991 to pressure Israel to stop building settlements in the West Bank and to attend the Madrid peace conference. Barack Obama frequently criticised Israeli settlement expansion and, in the final days of his term, withheld a US UN Security Council veto on a resolution regarding settlements. Joe Biden (2020s) threatened to withhold military aid if Israel launched a major offensive in Rafah during the 2024 conflict in Gaza, pausing a shipment of heavy bombs. Most of these presidents had been in favour of the two state solution for the Palestine problem as well.

Trump abandoned these longstanding US policies on Israel that were upheld by Obama and later restored by Biden. Significant and far-reaching changes, included recognising Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, moving the embassy, declaring settlements not inherently illegal, and recognising Golan Heights, which belonged to Syria, as part of Israel sovereignty. These evil deeds of Trump seem to have boomeranged on him as he battles to extricate himself from a war forced on him by Israel, which has resulted in enormous economic and political, not to mention military, losses for the US and Trump. Consequently Israel, in the eyes of many leading political commentators, is now a liability for the US.

How this war was started reveals the dastardly and barbaric mentality of Netanyahu and Trump. The US and Iran were engaged in negotiations, with the mediation of Oman, to resolve their differences, and on 26 February, 2026, the Foreign Minister of Iran stated that a historical agreement with the US was about to be entered into and, the following day, Oman corroborated this announcement. Iran apparently had agreed that its nuclear programme could be brought under the surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Surprisingly on 28 February, 2026, Israel and the US attacked Iran, Trump saying that it posed a nuclear threat to the US! Oman said it was “dismayed” and the Iranian Foreign Minister said it was a “betrayal”. Obviously, Trump, who is under obligation to the Jewish lobby, which had funded his election campaign, had been drawn into the war. The Epstein files issue may have pushed Trump across the threshold. Iran’s response was calculated and appropriate. Trump says he will obliterate the Iranian civilisation in one night but soon agrees to have negotiations with Iran, in Islamabad.

However, Netanyahu cannot afford an end to the war he started to save his own skin. He goes ahead and drops 100 bombs in 10 minutes on Lebanon, killing 254 civilians, including children. The massacre in Lebanon continues with Israel pushing towards the Litani river in an attempt to annex southern Lebanon. Israel disqualifies itself not only as a reliable ally but also as an honourable member of the world community by having leaders of the calibre of Netanyahu. Israel is fast becoming internationally isolated, according to experts like Professors Robert Pape, John Measheimier, Richard Wolff, Jeffrey Sachs and Yanis Varonfakis. And these experts are of the view that if Israel continues its aggressive approach and expansionist policy, disregarding the historical facts of its origin and the Palestine problem, it will implode and destroy itself.

Israel must face the reality that Iran has emerged stronger after the war and may have control over the Strait of Hormuz and may even force the US out of the region. Israel, under Netanyahu, may not be willing to acknowledge these facts, but the people in the US must realise that it is not in their national interests to have Israel as an indispensable ally. This war is very unpopular in the US not entirely due to the economic impact but the extremely atrocious way it has been prosecuted by Israel and also the equally horrendous threats made by the US against Iran. It is also very unpopular among the US allies who bluntly refused to join or even approve it. Australia, Japan and South Korea, though far removed from the theatre of war, seem to be pretty angry about the whole thing, as they are badly affected by the economic impact of the war. They may be concerned about the brutality of Israel, and the degree of support and approval it gets from the US.

Those who have significantly gained from the war may be Russia who could have a windfall on their oil sales, and China who could quietly weave its diplomatic network throughout the Middle East and watch the decline of US influence in the region. Saudi Arabia and UAE, two countries bombed by Iran, have already started a dialogue with Iran. These developments may hasten the emergence of the new world order, spearheaded by China.

The war, that was started by Netanyahu, with a willing Trump, seems to have backfired on them, with both facing a hostile world and a fast changing geopolitical global situation. Trump’s MAGA project was aimed at quelling the growth of the new world order that had China and Russia at the head. He attempted to hit Russia with sanctions but failed. He tried to curb China with tariffs but failed. Denying oil supplies to China was attempted by kidnapping the Venezuelan President. China’s monopoly on rare earth minerals was a headache to Trump and he proposes to annex Canada and Greenland which have rich deposits of these elements. War on Iran was another opportunity to do a regime change and get control over that country and its oil. He threatened to wipe out Iran saying that “the civilization would die tomorrow night”, only a psychopathic megalomaniac could make such utterances , not a president of the US. Fortunately, the changing world order would not allow Trump to achieve any of his crazy goals.

Netanyahu inadvertently may have hastened his own downfall by starting a war without realising that the global geopolitics have changed and he cannot have his way even with the full backing of Trump. Both Israel and the US need a regime change if the world is to have peace.

by N. A. de S. Amaratunga