PAST AND FUTURE

The old General Post Office is among the grandest of Colombo's colonial buildings. The imposing many-columned edifice was built in the English Classical Renaissance style during the latter stages of Queen Victoria's reign (1891-1895).

Designed by H.F Tomalin of the Ceylon Public Works Department, once completed and occupied in 1895 it was to house the offices of the Post Master General and serve as the headquarters for the Ceylon Postal Service, one of the pillars of the Colonial administration.

Tomalin's devotion to the construction of the building was said to have been extreme. He personally oversaw the detailing and the interiors, had extra-wide stones quarried for the stunning central staircase and wrought iron specially worked for the details on the roof and windows. The tiles were imported from Mangalore while the timber for the upper floors were brought from Burma.

Guidebook

Unfortunately, despite this attention to detail, the building was poorly adapted for local conditions; being in many respects a clone of a large number of Classical Renaissance buildings built in Britain.

The heavy stone work and lack of ventilation rendered the building less than ideal for the pre-air-conditioning era. Tellingly, the Book of Ceylon, a colonial era guidebook says, "immediately opposite the Queen's House is the General Post Office. Of this building the colony is proud, although comfort has been sacrificed somewhat to appearance.

The GPO housed the Post Office for 100 years though in the 90s the Postal Department moved to the Postal Department Headquarters Building on D.R Wijewardene Mawatha, leaving the old GPO effectively abandoned for several decades.

Restoration

Today, intensive restoration work is taking place on the old façade, raising hopes that this grand old dame will shine once again.

From Victorian to Edwardian

While the GPO was built in the late Victorian era, its bears many of the features of Edwardian architecture which became popular during the reign of King Edward Vll of the United Kingdom (1901-1910). The style is drawn from two sources - the architecture of France in the 18th century, and that of Sir Christopher Wren in England in the 17th century. Sir Edward Lutyen, responsible for laying out and planning much of New Delhi, was a leading exponent of this style. Typical details of Edwardian Baroque architecture such as extensive rustication, usually heavier at the ground level, often running into and exaggerating the arched openings can be seen in the old GPO building. Domed corner roof top pavilions and a central taller element creating a lively rooftop silhouette, exaggerated keystones in the arches, segmented arched pediments, columns and rustication to window surrounds, colonnades of columns in the ionic order, domed towers and Dutch gables are also visible.

Heritage building's fate, a mystery

Senior architect and urban-conservationist Ashley de Vos told the Sunday Observer that nothing was known about the future of the old General Post Office (GPO). According to De Vos, who was instrumental in the refurbishment of the Dutch Hospital building, "the future of the GPO is unclear."

The Sunday Observer contacted the Urban Development Authority (UDA) on the building but was told that it now comes under the authority of the Presidential Secretariat. The Presidential Secretariat too could not furnish any information.

"It might take five years for a plan for the GPO to be formulated for now there isn't much information," said De Vos.