Odysseys

'Galle Face Hotel'

The Galle Face Hotel was originally a Dutch villa called Galle Face House. It was then a meeting place for gentlemen of the colonial era. Later on, four British entrepreneurs decided to use the premises to establish a lodging business.

In 1864, the Galle Face Hotel was built and became known as one of the best hotel East of Suez, the old seaport city of Egypt. It is also one of the oldest operating hotels in Asia. The name of the hotel was derived from the neighboring historical Galle Face Green, a promenade along the coast popular since the Victorian times.

The hotel was initially built section by section, starting with the central area followed by the South and North wings. In 1894, the hotel expanded and became a two-storey luxury hotel. Edward Skinner, a prominent architect of the time was responsible for most of its design. He was also the architect of other beautiful buildings of old Ceylon like the Cargills and Co. and Victoria Memorial Eye Hospital. Around 1903 to 1909, the Galle Face Hotel Company continued to buy up land and expanded the hotel to its present size.

Throughout it's history, the Galle Face Hotel hosted many notable guests including Mahatma Gandhi, Yuri Gagarin, John D. Rockefeller, Prince Philip, President Nixon, Prime Minister Edward Heath, Prince Hirohito of Japan, Actress Carrie Fisher of Star Wars, Actor Sir Roger More of James Bond, Author Mark Twain and many more other royal entourages and famous individuals. The renowned science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke even the penned the final chapters of '3001: The Final Odyssey' while staying in the hotel.

An iconic Sri Lanka doorman, the late Kottarapattu Chattu Kuttan aka KC, who worked at the Galle Face Hotel is one of the oldest and most reputable hotel employees of the world. He became the trademark of Sri Lanka's hospitality industry and was featured on the covers of many world travel magazines.

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'Chatham Street'

One of Colombo's most historical streets and a place of age-old heritage lined with monuments like the picturesque Central Point building, which was once upon a time Colombo's tallest structure, and the Old Lighthouse Clock Tower.

'The Delft Gate of Old Colombo Fort'

The Delf Gate is one of the last remaining elements of the age-old Colombo Fort. This gate formed one of four entrances to the Dutch Fort of Colombo, along with the Galle Gate in the south, Rotterdam Gate and the Water Gate in the harbor.

The Delft Gate was accessed via the Pettah district by crossing a moat using a draw bridge, and a curved passage way led to the entry of the fort. On either side of the gate was one continuous building which housed the guards. The reason for the curved passage way was to avoid direct fire from the outside to the interior of the fort in case of an attack or invasion. It was also believed that crocodiles lingered under the moat, feeding on the waste food disposed by the fort's inhabitants. This was probably another defence strategy used by the Dutch to prevent invasion by swimming across to the fort.

Today, the Delft Gate is currently a part of the Commercial House building and its preservation is managed under the bank.

'Grand Oriental Hotel & Victoria Arcade'

Sitting across from each other on the historical York Street are the Grand Oriental Hotel (G.O.H) and Victoria Arcade, two grand Edwardian style buildings from the British Ceylon period.

The Grand Oriental Hotel:
G.O.H was originally the site of a Dutch governor's residence. Around 1837, the British Crown Colony modified the building and constructed military barracks and a hostel for their army. By 1875, they established a hotel with around 154 rooms. At the time, it was one of the few only fully equipped, European owned and managed hotel in the East.

Aristocrats and wealthy merchants would port their ships at the Port of Colombo and walk right into the G.O.H for a comfortable room and other lavish hospitality facilities. During the civil unrest in 1950s, the British owmers sold it to the local Bank of Ceylon. Initially, due to legal issues the bank could not brand the hotel Grand Oriental Hotel and thus it was renamed the Taprobane Hotel.

In 1966, the local renowned architect, Geoffrey Bawa, was charged with the remodelling of the hotel. He designed the Harbour Room, a restaurant on the fourth floor directly overlooking the Colombo Harbour. At around the same time the island's first night club, the Blue Leopard was also built in the basement. In the late 1900s the hotel was again branded G.O.H and was re-opened for business after extensive refurbishment.

Today, G.O.H is considered a heritage hotel and a testimony to the heydays of colonial architecture in Colombo.

Victoria Arcade:
Right opposite from the G.O.H" is another beautiful piece of architecture known as the Victoria Buildings or better known as the Victoria Arcade. It was a ground floor shopping arcade where the seafarers during the British Ceylon era could stroll amongst palms and fountains, browsing through jewellery shops, snack on refreshment at Messrs Burdayron Freres, books tours at the Thomas Cook & Son's office or exchange money at the National Bank of India. It was usually the first stop the tourists of that period made after checking-in at G.O.H.

The building's upper stories housed offices and residential flats. It was also where the monumental statue of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee stood before being moved to Colombo's Museum premises.

Today, Victoria Arcade houses several offices including travel agents and a small boutique shop selling food.