The early years of Dickmans Road and its environs-by Hugh Karunanayake
Source:Island
Dickmans Road in Bambalapitiya was given its name at the end of the 19th century. The road itself connecting Galle Road to Havelock Road (then called Bambalapitiya Road) existed even before the 1880s and at the time was one of the few roads linking the western seaboard with Colombo’s hinterland, but in its early years did not have a name.
There is no information available on how the road got its name. It was possibly after Cornelius Dickman a descendant from the Dutch who compiled and published a Manual of the Ceylon Civil Service. He was appointed to the Civil Service in 1868 and was Assistant Auditor General for 18 years before he retired in 1886. He however lived most of his life in Dematagoda, so there is a question mark against that possibility.
What we know for certain is that the Dickman name was tagged to this road around 1901 and remained so for more than a century until it was changed a few years ago to Lester James Peiris Mawatha to honour the well known film director who took up residence on that road in recent years.
The prominent landmark situated at the Galle Road end of the road is that of the Church of St Paul at Milagiriya built in 1848 on a large plot of land granted by the government. The area from Galle Road right up to Jawatte was called Milagiriya after a Portuguese church dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles which stood on the site of the Jawatte cemetery. At the site of the church was a well which supposedly had healing properties. St Paul’s Church, Milagiriya was located in a largely uninhabited area at the time known as Bambalapitiya.
St Paul’s Girls School which was established as a Parish School attached to the Church in 1887 is a national school today with over 4,000 pupils. At the turn of the twentieth century this area consisted of coconut and cinnamon estates. Among these was Bambalapitiya Estate a coconut estate of 42-acres and Bamabalapitiya watte, a cinnamon estate of 37-acres both belonging to Mudaliyar Pereira of Kollupitiya. Mrs Jeronis Peiris owned a 14-acre cinnamon estate also called Bambalapitiya. Stuart Peiris owned Richiewatte a 42-acre cinnamon estate which occupied much of the land between Lauries Road and Dickmans Road. Most of today’s suburb of Thimbirigasyaya was a 48-acre coconut cum cinnamon estate called Thimbirigasyaya owned by Adrian de Abrew Jayasekera.
Havelock Town was opened in 1901 with the creation of Layards Road, Elibank Road, and Skelton Road all leading off Dickmans Road. Havelock Park was also opened up during that time; the name commemorating the gubernatorial work of former Governor of Ceylon Sir Arthur Havelock. The Havelock Golf Club had its humble origins with a four hole course on the Havelock Park in the early 1900s.
The Burgher Recreation Club was for many years known as the Bambalapitiya Recreation Club also found its home on the Havelock Park in1906. The club itself was established in 1896 , its foundation meeting held in the verandah of a house called Ardgowan belonging to Mr. FJ Lucas Fernando Snr a wealthy landowner who was one of the first to build in the newly established Havelock Town. His property, “Norwood” on Layards Road extended into Elibank Road and its large grounds were used by the Bambalapitiya Recreation Club for its sports activities including cricket until it moved to Havelock Park.
Mr Fernando’s family including his two sons-in-law, Dr DC de Fonseka and JB de Fonseka and extended family were pioneer settlers in the Layards Road, Elibank Road area where successive generations resided for over a 100 years.
St Paul’s Milagiriya originally stood on extensive lands part of which were sold to finance the building of a new Church adjoining the site of the old one. The sale of land which occurred in1902 realised Rs 44,000 which went towards the construction of the new church. Mr HJ Peiris, a well known renter and plantation owner purchased some of the land which was later gifted to his elder daughter, Bernice, who married Dr EA Cooray one time member of the State Council, in 1911.
A few years later the Coorays built their palatial home, Belvoir, which stood opposite the church across Galle Road. Dr Cooray also gifted to the church the clock and its chiming bells which are in use at the church to this day. They also built two large two storied houses on Dickmans Road one of which was named Doniford which were for decades leased to Brown and Co as residence for its Chairman. Mr W. A. Mudie who was appointed Managing Director of Brown and Co in 1938 lived in “Doniford” for over 20 years. Those buildings were later amalgamated to form the Havelock Tour Inn during the 1970s and today form together with Belvoir, the Belvoir International School.
By the 1950s Dickmans Road and its connecting roads, Dickmans Lane, Dickmans Path, Bethesda Place, Ebert Place De Fonseka Place, Anderson Road, together with Layards Road, Elibank Road, and Skelton Road had developed into a tranquil cosmopolitan suburbia with much sought after homes of distinctive character. It is the aim of this article to recall some of the homes and associated personalities which breathed life to this area in mid twentieth century Ceylon.
The area was then populated with homes that were spacious and elegant and owned and occupied by professionals and landed proprietors who could afford an establishment usually with three or four domestic aides including cook, houseboy, chauffeur and the ubiquitous “ayah”. The average house had neatly tended gardens and in keeping with the trend of that era each house had a distinctive name often an anglicised one also in keeping with the times.
One family that lived on Dickmans Road for over 100 years is that of Magdon Ismail whose house was called Noor Mahal located at the Galle Road end of Dickmans Road opposite the St. Paul’s Church. Magdon Ismail was Director of the company called Taylor and Mackay and it was at his home that the inaugural meeting of the Havelock Golf Club took place in 1904 and he was elected its first President. In recent times this house was subject to an armed home invasion which attracted much publicity.
A couple of doors away was the home of lawyer Abdul Cader. On the opposite side was Donegal the two storied home of Heptula Abdulaly whose father established Eastern Aquaria in the back yard of their home and was a centre for the sale of tropical fish for many years. The Abdulalys continue to live in the house which is a well known landmark on the street. Dickmans Path which ran on the side of this home has been subsumed by the newly constructed Duplication Road running parallel to Galle Road. Among the well known residents of Dickmans Path was Dr C Amirthalingam, then Director of Fisheries and JL Silva, for many years General Manager of Ceylon Insurance Co.
Dickmans Lane which was on the opposite side to Dickman’s Path has also been obliterated from the map being swallowed by Duplication Road. Bethesda Place named after Bethesda Hall which adjoins it is a small road with about a dozen homes connecting De Fonseka Road. Bethesda Gospel Hall is a large building standing back from the road and carrying a banner permanently encrypted on the front facade of its main entrance porch with the words “The Lord Jesus is coming again . Are you ready?”. Hundreds of thousands of passers by would have over the years, read these words which could still be seen 95 years after they were inscribed.
The hall was built in April 1919. The land and the hall were gifted to the church by Isabel Amelia Loos a wealthy lady and wife of F.C. Loos, leading attorney of the day. Further on the same side of Dickmans Road was “Gitanjali” for many years the home of leading criminal lawyer GG Ponnambalam It was from this home that his son, Kumar, attended school at Royal College. The Ponnambalams later moved to Queens Road taking the name of the house to their new residence.
Lester James Peiris, the film director lived in this property. A few doors away from here was the home of Dr Turab Fazlebas, ENT Surgeon who moved to his newly built home “Gulistan” from Castle Street where he previously resided. Turab’s daughter, Sakina, was a well known speech pathologist working from the father’s home. Turab was the son in law of A Mamujee, a well known businessman of the day whose portrait was immortalised with its appearance in the much sought after book on Lionel Wendt published by Praeger in 1950.
Around here was Stubbs Place which had about a dozen homes including that of AM Rahim, the first Ceylonese MD of Henderson and Co. Two doors away was lawyer E.G.(Guy) Wikramanayake’s home “Sri Mahal” which stood beside Ebert Place. He migrated to Australia in the early 1970s where he passed away a few years later.
There were a few homes in Ebert place which was a “cul-de-sac”. A long resident family was the Seneviratnes headed by Postmaster-General Seneviratne and a large brood of children of whom the boys attended St Peter’s College. Almost every evening school friends and associates of the Seneviratne boys used to assemble at the turn off to Ebert Place and hang around chatting away even long after evening shadows had fallen. This very informal group was for some years in the 1950s/60s a part of social life in the area and participation extended to other young men from near and far.
The inevitable smoke was bought from the “kadai” adjoining Ebert Place which by itself was a popular shop in the locality for vegetables and groceries. Next to the kadai was the Havelock Town Post Office a popular public institution in the area. The home of Dunstan de Silva, the first President of the Aero Club of Ceylon founded in 1928, adjoined De Fonseka Place which led off Dickmans Road. Further down the road lived C.I Gunasekera famous cricketer and tennis player and vintage car enthusiast.
Around here was Anderson Road which is no more a cul de sac .Among the more notable residents on Anderson Road was Hildon Sansoni, reputed tennis player and ADC to successive Governors. His wife Barbara was equally renowned as a pioneer promoter of handloom fabrics and the founder of Barefoot in Kollupitiya. Their home became a sales centre for handloom fabrics in the sixties.
The Dickmans Road /Havelock Road intersection was the site for the second set of traffic lights to be installed in Colombo-the first was at the Turret Road/Galle Road Junction. At the end of Dickmans Road on the opposite side were the Bogala Flats built by graphite magnate Sir Ernest (E.P.A.) Fernando who built these apartments in the late 1940s on a site previously owned by a Maldivian and called “Didi Villa”. Sir Ernest opened his private nine hole golf course in Nawinna in 1958 but died not long after and the property was acquired by the government for the Ayurvedic Institute which still functions there.
Proceeding towards Galle Road on the left hand side of Dickmans Road was the home of AL Jayasuriya, later occupied by Dr CJC de Silva. The Jeevanjees lived a few doors away. Around here was “Cliveden” the home of Dr Leembruggen and “Clovelly” the home of Electrical Engineer GB Misso whose son, Vincent, a tea planter known to some Ceylon Society of Australia (CSA) members may still be resident there.
The turn off to Skelton Road was here and this road too hosted some well known families of that era. Among them was Sir Donatus Victoria who owned Victoria Hotel in the Pettah and who ran the railway catering service for many years. He lived in a house called “Alcoque” almost opposite to his brother JS Victoria’s residence on the same road. Architect Alles was another resident and Dr Thillainathan lived in a home called “Land’s End” which was located near the Wellawatte canal which skirted the end of the road.
Between Skelton Road and Elibank Road were a few houses on Dickmans Road. At Elibank Road at its corner with Dickmans Road stood the home of Mudaliyar Silva, a ship chandler. Next door was “Delmar ” the home of Dr Leo Peries whose brother Wilfred lived two doors away in his home “Leawood”. Wilfred Peries was Produce Broker at Mackwoods and later Director of the company. His only son Tony an esteemed former President of our CSA was the first Ceylonese Chairman of the leading mercantile firm of the time, George Steuart and Co.Tony would certainly have pleasant memories growing up in that area.
Other well known residents were the Ebramjees who lived in “Sadikot”, Dr Eric Schockman in “Havelock House” and Dallas Gunasekera brother of the cricketer C.I in “Thurlestone”. Former Chief Justice H.H. Basnayake lived in “Elibank House” to which he moved in the 1950s from his home on Havelock Road. His house had a reputation among legal circles for its well stocked library mainly of law books.
While the Lucas Fernanado property was easily the largest down Layards Road with its sprawling home “Norwood” it also had a large tract of unbuilt land adjoining it which was used as a place for drying laundered clothes by a cluster of washer families who were given access to the property. A couple of years after Lucas Fernando Jnr’s death in 1958 his family blocked out the land and was fully built upon . Among those who acquired a sub division was Mr Kasi Choksy a former. Finance Minister.
Almost opposite Norwood was the popular Trevine Gardens run by Ian Oorloff. The property was first owned by Phillip de Silva, a plumbago mine owner from whom the Nagel family acquired it. EF Don who was a former Secretary of the Havelock Golf Club during its tenure at Havelock Park lived down this road in his home named “Myrtles”. Another well known resident was Lyn Ludowyke who had the distinction of being appointed Professor of English at the University of Ceylon at the early age of 30 years.
The end of Layards Road connected with Lorenz Road which commenced from Galle Road. Lorenz Road was bordered on one side by the grounds of the Wellawatte kovil and on the other by an uninterrupted row of houses running almost the entire length of the road. The entire property including the section that abutted Layards Road originally belonged to Bambalapitiya Estate of Mudaliyar Pereira and later by his kinsman Wellawattage William Peiris whose descendants still live in adjoining homes at the end of Layards Road.
The Dickmans Road – Havelock Town area is now part of a bustling metropolis partly blighted by subdivided housing and commercial buildings that have had an impact on the area’s serene genteel tranquillity. It is only inevitable that the environmental impact of changing land use patterns and skyrocketing land values will bring in its wake social change. The blight of commercial tide which will eventually overrun this once elegant and fashionable neighbourhood seems inevitable, however unwelcome. These notes will hopefully help evoke some pleasant memories of a not too distant past especially to those who have known the area.
