An Outstanding Mansion: “Regina Walauwwa” become “College House”-by Dr Michael Roberts Source:Thuppahis Yomal Senerath-Yapa, in Sunday Times, 8 May 2022, where the title runs thus: “Enduring Symbol of Colombo University” … with a sub-line reading “A new coffee-table book maps the beginnings of the country’s academia in 1921“ The majestic College House down Thurstan Road –  a whimsical marriage between an English country house and a Maharajah’s haveli with its conical roofs, turrets and slender carved wooden columns, is for the historian a relic of a bygone age. Originally called ‘Regina Walawwa’, in time the house would be renamed College House and become the icon of the Colombo University. Prof Sandagomi Coperahewa Dr. Shravika Amarasekara Built by Thomas Henry Arthur de Soysa for his wife, she would sadly never preside over the mansion or walk down its sweeping staircase, as she died before the building’s completion in 1912. It was ...

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