Visumpaya, is an

official residence An official residence is the House, residence of a head of state, head of government, governor, Clergy, religious leader, leaders of international organizations, or other senior figure. It may be the same place where they conduct their work-relate ...

of the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

. It is located in Lillie Street,

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo me ...

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 ...

. The house has been used as a residence for visiting heads of state and local government ministers.

History

The colonial style two story

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

was built as the Officer's mess of the

Ceylon Rifle Regiment The Ceylon Rifle Regiment (CRR) was a regular native regiment formed by the British in Ceylon. Its history goes back to 1795. The nucleus of the Regiment was two companies of Malays recruited from among prisoners at St Helena. In 1795 there were ...

and was sold to the Colombo Commercial Company in the late nineteenth century, which was named as "Acland House" turned it into its head office in Colombo and later became the residence of its general manager. In 1971, the house was taken over by the government following the nationalization of the Colombo Commercial Company under the Business (Acquisition) Act No. 35 of 1971.Memories of Dusty Miller of The Colombo Commercial Company
/ref> Thereafter the house was used by the government as quarters for senior government officials such as

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

C. A. Dharmapala as

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

from 1977 to 1983. In the late 1980's President

Ranasinghe Premadasa Sri Lankabhimanya Ranasinghe Premadasa ( si, රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස ''Raṇasiṃha Premadāsa'', ta, ரணசிங்க பிரேமதாசா ''Raṇaciṅka Pirēmatācā''; 23 June 1924 – 1 May 1993) was t ...

refurbished the house with its large gardens to be used as the

state guest house A state guest house is a building owned by the government of a country which is used as an official residence for visiting foreign dignitaries, especially during state visits or for other important events. Americas Canada * 7 Rideau Gate in O ...

to host to official functions and visiting heads of state and government giving it the name ''Visumpaya''. From the mid 1990s it became a ministerial residence.

Anura Bandaranaike Anura Priyadarshi Solomon Dias Bandaranaike (15 February 1949 – 16 March 2008) was a Sri Lankan politician, served as Speaker of the Parliament of Sri Lanka (2000-2001) and Leader of the Opposition (1983–1988). He held several cabinet min ...

former Minister and Speaker of Parliament died while in residence at ''Visumpaya''. It was used by

D. M. Jayaratne Dissanayaka Mudiyanselage Jayaratne ( si, දිසානායක මුදියන්සේලාගේ ජයරත්න, ta, திசாநாயக்க முதியன்சேலாகே ஜயரத்ன; 4 June 1931 – 19 No ...

, 14th

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the head and most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's executive branch behind the president, wh ...

as his

References

{{Colombo, state=collapsed Official residences in Sri Lanka Prime ministerial residences Houses in Colombo Manor houses in Sri Lanka

History

See also

References