Travelling past Colombo's Galle Face Green towards the area
known as Fort, a cityscape looms. In the background, silvery skyscrapers and
cream-coloured buildings dominate.
In the
foreground, however, the roving eye is attracted to a building close to
the sea whose dimensions are in complete contrast, being several hundred metres
long and only three storeys high. More significantly, the architecture is
neo-classical, incorporating colonnades and the use of striking brown granite.
The structure is a typical instance of the official British architecture
employed in Asian colonies to reflect imperial glory.
The architecture is neo-classical, incorporating colonnades and the use of striking brown granite. a typical instance of official British architecture employed in Asian colonies to reflect imperial glory
The building today, commonly referred to as the "Old
Parliament", accommodates the Presidential Secretariat and the Office of
the Executive President, the latest in a catalogue of political and
administrative incumbents. The idea for such an edifice was suggested in 1912
by Governor Sir Henry McCullum to house Ceylon's Legislative Council, formed in
1833 with 49 members, which met in the building opposite the picturesque (but
now inaccessible) Gordon Gardens. However, it wasn't until 1920 that a proposal
by a special committee to construct a new building for "the Secretariat,
Council Chamber and Government offices on reclaimed land at the northern end of
Galle Face" was officially accepted.
The chief architect of the Public Works Department, Austin
Woodeson, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA), was
logically chosen to design such an extensive and complex building. Because the
site- located between the now-demolished Echelon Barracks and the Beira Lake
-was reclaimed, Woodeson prudently constructed the foundations using heavily
reinforced concrete piles. The rare brown granite was obtained from a quarry
near Ruwanwella, 65km east of Colombo, and transported in barges down the river
named the Kelani Ganga and into the Beira Lake via a canal so that it could be
conveniently unloaded adjacent to the site. In fact this beautiful granite,
which takes on a red hue when illuminated by the dying rays of the sun as it
sinks into the Indian Ocean, was used only in the construction of the ground
floor due to its high price. Above, a blended plaster that matches the granite
colour hides the more ordinary stone beneath. To strengthen the structure, Woodeson
inserted a steel framework to support the walls and decided that the floors and
columns should be made of concrete.
His revivalist architecture integrated exquisite columns of
the classical "Ionic" design, gently fluted towards the capital with
a representation of two opposed scrolls. The façade of this magnificent
building has an entrance reached by ascending many flights of broad steps. At
the top are six columns supporting a traditional triangular pediment, and on
either side are four more columns. Along the length of the structure is a
series of colonnades, a pair with eleven columns each. The building has been
aptly described by Sri Lankan architectural historian Ismeth Raheem as a
"masterpiece in stone".
Woodeson gave the building an open outlook so it would
receive the maximum benefit from cool breezes. He was also wise enough to
locate the Council Chamber on the east side of the building, away from the
noise of the sea and sheltered from the afternoon sun. Incidentally, the
initial estimate for the construction was 400,000 rupees, which was later
revised by the Public Works Advisory Board to 450,000 rupees.
Great care was taken by Woodeson with the interior design,
in particular the working environment. Cork carpet and linoleum were used to minimise
noise. Lighting is indirect and secluded. Within the Chamber, the acoustic
properties are as perfect as possible. Ventilation was provided by air
propelled into the building by basement fans. Under members' seats were
adjustable grills through which the air flowed, thus eliminating the need for
electric fans that so easily disturb public speaking.
In
addition, the illumination of the upper portion of the Chamber is achieved by
means of the reflection of floodlights fitted outside the topmost windows.
The building was declared open as the Legislative Council on
January 29, 1930, by Governor Sir Herbert Stanley. He expressed the desire that
"all the deliberations, which will be conducted within these walls may
serve to weld the several communities and classes of the population together
into an organic unity of national life and national progress, not by the
suppression of varying traditions but by their co-ordination on a basis of
mutual respect."
A year later, with the demise of the Legislative Council,
the building housed the successive instrument of governance, the State Council
of Ceylon, consisting of 61 members. In The Real Ceylon (1939),
C Brooke Elliot reveals how simple it was to witness the proceedings.
"If the Council is actually sitting, an application by the visitor
to the Speaker will meet with courteous reception and secure a seat in the
Speaker's Gallery, situated over the clock. From such a position an excellent
opportunity is provided of seeing and hearing all that goes on in our Ceylon Parliament."
Nowadays there is nothing other than passing traffic to
diminish the view of the Indian Ocean from the west-facing frontage of the Old
Parliament. But during those early years in the 1930s there was a former
guardroom on the seafront, almost washed by the waves, that served as the
headquarters of the Boy Scouts Association of Ceylon.
The next change in governance occurred in 1947 when the
House of Representatives, which eventually comprised 157 members, was formed.
On February 4, 1948, Ceylon gained Independence from Britain and the Duke of
Gloucester opened the first self-rule sitting of the House. Fittingly, the
building was renovated and Britain's Royal coat of arms that adorned the centre
of the impediment above the entrance was replaced by the coat of arms of the
Dominion of Ceylon. The following year saw the presentation by Britain's House
of Commons of the Speaker's chair and the symbol of authority, the mace.
After the 1972 Constitution was adopted the National State
Assembly was formed with 168 members, and the coat of arms of the Dominion of
Ceylon was replaced by that of the Republic of Sri Lanka. Just six years later
though, in 1978, the Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri
Lanka was introduced and the present Parliament was formed, which comprises 225
members.
Each of these changes required some structural alteration to
the building to contain the increasing number of members. Eventually the need
for larger premises became imperative, so the construction of a new Parliament
complex at Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte was authorised in 1979. Consequently in
1983 the building that had housed the Island's legislature for 53 years was
vacated. The architect of the new Parliament was the internationally-renowned
Geoffrey Bawa. Not surprisingly, his design is far removed from the Old
Parliament, being a style of regional modernism that nevertheless respects the
Island's vernacular architecture.
Since 1983 the Old Parliament, as mentioned earlier, has
functioned as the Presidential Secretariat and the Office of the Executive
President. This is where all important official announcements are made and
appointments of state administered. The building, especially the former Council
Chamber, is also the venue for various state functions. In addition, the
letters of credence of arriving ambassadors and high commissioners are accepted
here by President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Whatever name is or has been applied to it, this building is
of paramount importance. Where architecture is concerned, it is arguably the
most adventurous and impressive British official building constructed in
Colombo. This is no mean feat considering the quality of contenders such as the
Capitol Hill-influenced Town Hall (Woodeson chose the design by SJ Edwards of Singapore
from 32 received from British architects in the East) and the Italianate
National Museum (designed by James Smither, Woodeson's predecessor at the
Public Works Department).
Whatever name is or has been applied this building is of paramount importance. Where architecture is concerned, it is arguably the most adventurous and impressive British official building constructed in Colombo
More significant is the comparatively short yet
fast-changing and absorbing political era the Old Parliament symbolises, which
straddled Independence-the final struggle for self-rule followed by the
evolution of a fully-fledged Parliament. Providentially Woodeson conceived a
building with a highly satisfactory environment for enlightened debate and
imaginative decision-making. Indeed the Old Parliament was where the Island's
modern governance and democracy were nurtured.
