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| Sunday, 19 January 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Oliver Weerasinghe's 23rd death anniversary tomorrow : The father of Sri Lanka's town planning by Jayanthi Liyanage
Much has been written about him before. Much remains still to write about him, to let the present and future generations know of this pioneering man. Tomorrow marks the 23rd death anniversary of Oliver Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka's first city planner and architect who once was the country's Ambassador to the U.S.A. An international civil servant who was also an exemplary gentleman. A reminder of the service he has rendered to the country jolts the minds of those who catch sight of the garden seat erected in his name at the Vihara Maha Devi Park where he died of a heart attack on January 20, 1980, as dawn was breaking, while taking his customary morning stroll. Perhaps, it can be said that in Oliver's long, multi-faceted and illustrious career, there are three memorable architectural moments for which he is reverently lauded and remembered. The premier of which is the planning and development of the new city of Anuradhapura in 1940's, as a step to preserving the ancient city. "It is amazing how much of history, sheer architectural dignity and beauty lie literally undeground or scattered in tumbled heaps of stone masonry in jungle glades and village gardens and city lots up and down Ceylon," Oliver had noted in one of his articles, revealing his great love for Anuradhapura. "A single pillar may mark a colonnade, a single state a hidden shrine..." The second instance is the construction of the new wing of the Lake House building when Oliver's kinsman late D.R. Wijewardene was the Managing Director of the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. (ANCL). The edifice has over the years continued to house the country's largest newspaper group which is ANCL.
The third was the planning and landscape design of the Peradeniya campus regarded as one of the most beautiful seats of learning. Oliver's expertise in urban planning and economic development was much harnessed by President J.R. Jayewardene and Prime Minister R. Premadasa. His wife, Christobel Weerasinghe, the only daughter of Sir Henry Kotalawala, who represented Uva and Badulla in the State Council of Ceylon for 28 years, preserves the memory of her husband as "A most wonderful husband!" "I always wanted to do things my own way," she says, referring to her past as the Alternative Representative of the World Federation of United Nations during 1956-1965 and later, doing children's programmes at SLBC Radio. "But he knew how to quietly guide me. If he said 'don't do it', I certainly would have done it!" Christobel pays a tribute to D.R. Wijewardene, saying, "Bless him, he created the first post of Architect and City Planner for the country (my husband) with the help of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, then Minister of Local Government, to head Ceylon's first Department of Town and Country Planning." The "local press baron" as she calls him, also brought the husband and wife together by arranging Oliver to come and see the Visakhian Christobel's performance as heroine Arlene in the operetta La-Boheme in which she sang "I dreamt I dwelt in marble halls." Oliver was educated at Royal College and then at Liverpool University, UK, under teacher Sir Patrick Abercrombie who later acted as the Consultant when Oliver designed Anuradhapura New Town. He qualified as a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a Fellow of the Royal Town Planning Institute, gathering expertise in both fields. His articles on international forums and the press and journals here and abroad are proof of his proficiency in widely different fields. He also contributed greatly towards housing development. The Oliver Weerasinghe committee's recommendations paved the way for a separate Ministry for Housing in 1954. He was also the Founder President of the Ceylon Institute of Architects. In 1956, Oliver joined the UNO and was subsequently appointed as Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the USA. At the demise of this Father of Sri Lanka's Town Planning, a dual fund was established by his wife, son and daughter to widen the study literature available to the students of Architecture and Town Planning. J.M.L. Jayasekara, Director-General, National Physical Planning Department and current President, Sri Lanka Institute of Architects (SLIA), started the OW Library Trust Fund for Town Planners while V.N.C. Gunasekera, President, Organization of Professional Associations and Past President of SLIA, started the OW Library Trust Fund for Architects. Oliver was also a member of the UDA and a Consultant to the GCEC on the regional development of the "Area of Authority." This erudite personality of whom it is said "The higher he rose, the humbler he became," has left to follow in his traditions his son, Rohan, a Senior Managing Partner of a major global law firm, and daughter, Menakka, formerly a lecturer at the University of Michigan, both now domiciled abroad. |
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