Welikadawatte, a middle-class housing estate in
Rajagiriya
Rajagiriya is part of the Sri Lanka's administrative capital of Sri Jayawardenapura. A fairly large suburb bordering Colombo, Rajagiriya lies between Borella and Ethul Kotte, straddling Parliament Road.
History
The area was originally known a ...
,
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 ...
, was a result of the first
co-operative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
housing scheme in Sri Lanka.
In the mid-1950s, Dr.
Seneka Bibile
Senaka Bibile ( Sinhala:සේනක බිබිලේ) (13 February 1920 – 29 September 1977) was a Sri Lankan pharmacologist. He was the founder of Sri Lanka's drug policy, which was used as a model for development of policies based on r ...
, together with
Herbert Keuneman
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert ...
, 'Bonnie' Fernando,
Anil and
Jeanne Moonesinghe and other members of the radical
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
, founded Sri Lanka's first co-operative housing scheme, the Gothatuwa Building Society. The members of the society were drawn from the ranks of the journalists of the "Lake House" publishing group and of the professors of the
University of Ceylon
The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...
.
The housing estate was established on land granted through the offices of
T. B. Ilangaratne
Navaratne Rajakaruna Wasala Mudiyanselage Tikiri Bandara Ilangaratne (27 February 1913 – 21 May 1992), popularly as T. B. Ilangaratne, was a Sri Lankan politician, author, dramatist, and theater actor. He was a Member of Parliament for K ...
in the Welikada area (Rajagiriya postal area) of
Kotte, now the capital of Sri Lanka but then a suburb of
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 ...
. Originally within a large cinnamon and coconut plantation known as ''Marandaan Kurunduwatte'', it was named ''Welikadawatte'' – the
Sinhala for "Welikada Gardens". One notable aspect of the scheme was that each of the houses had a distinct design, the architects experimenting with forms new to Sri Lanka at the time. Some of the designs were reminiscent of the approach of
Walter Gropius
Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...
and the
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
– then popularly known as the 'American Style'.
The scheme later on expanded considerably, both in size and in population. It attained some fame as an island of intellectual creativity from the mid-1960s onwards.
The offices of the
Strømme Foundation
The Strømme Foundation ( no, Strømmestiftelsen) is a Norwegian volunteer development organization that was established on September 21, 1976. The foundation provides assistance to poor people in the Global South to pull themselves out of poverty ...
, the Humanitarian Information Centre for Sri Lanka Rights, and the English Writers' Co-operative of Sri Lanka are located there.
References
Neighbourhoods in Sri Lanka
{{WesternLK-geo-stub