Queen's Cottage (also known as the ''President's House'' or ''The Lodge'') is a

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

near Nuwara Eliya,

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. It is the vacationing and country residence of the

President of Sri Lanka The President of Sri Lanka ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනාධිපති ''Śrī Laṃkā Janādhipathi''; ta, இலங்கை சனாதிபதி ''Ilankai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of t ...

. Located within the limits of the Nuwara Eliya Municipal Council along the Queen Elizabeth Drive, it is a

protected monument In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

under the ''Antiquities Ordinance''.

History

Built as an

English country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

in 1893 by the British Colonial administration of the island as the summer residence for the Governor of Ceylon, Sir William Henry Gregory. Gregory controversially sold the Governor's seasonal residence in Galle and constructed this new official residence without the consent of the Colonial Office. It was constructed for the sum of £1,500 and the ballroom and drawing room were designed by Herbert Frederick Tomalin (1852-1944), an English architect/engineer in the Public Works Department, who also designed and supervised the construction of the General Post Office in Colombo. It was frequented by subsequent Governors and their guests between January and May to escape the tropical heat of Colombo in ''Little England'' as Nuwara Eliya was known. It was at the Queen's Cottage, Sir

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

fell ill and later died on 24 March 1918. He was the only British Governor to die in Ceylon. In 1947, Sir

Robert Drayton Sir Robert Harry Drayton (14 April 1892 - 20 February 1963), was a lawyer and a senior colonial civil servant who worked in Palestine, Tanganyika, Ceylon, Jamaica and Pakistan. He served as the Chief Secretary of Ceylon from 1942 to 1947 and a ...

, Chief Secretary and Barclay Nihill, Legal Secretary reviewed and approved the draft of the first constitution of Ceylon that had been drafted by Bernard Peiris on the request of D S Senanayake. Since independence in 1948 the house became the official vacationing residence of the Governor General of Ceylon and since 1972 the President after Sri Lanka became a republic. However, since independence it has been used by the Prime Minister as well. On 31 December 1953 the

Cabinet of Ceylon In Sri Lanka, the Cabinet of Ministers is the council of ministers that form the central government of Sri Lanka. The body of senior ministers responsible and answerable to the Parliament of Sri Lanka. The President is a member of the cabinet ...

meet for an urgent meeting under Prime Minister Sir

John Kotelawala General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...

. It was formally recognised and declared a ‘Protected Monument’, under the Antiquities Ordinance (Chapter 188), by the Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage on 23 February 2007.

History

See also

References

Further reading