Brief Garden of Bevis Bawa

Brief Garden of Bevis Bawa

The Brief Garden (Sinhala:බෙවිස් බාවා බ්‍රීෆ් උද්‍යානය) is a landscape garden and the former home of the landscape architect Bevis Bawa. It is located in Beruwala in Kalutara District, Sri Lanka. History Bevis Bawa (1909-1992) was the son of Benjamin Bawa (1865-1923), a rich Colombo lawyer. He was also the brother of renowned architect Geoffrey Bawa [(1919-2003) Cooper, 2009]. After the death of Benjamin, the mother of Bevis gifted him a rubber state named "Brief" in 1928. That estate was known by that name because it had been acquired in lieu of payment of a legal brief (Cooper, 2009). It is said that Bevis's mother who was spending her final years at the Brief during the 1940s, encouraged Bevis to create a garden (Cooper, 2009). Bewis created the garden later, as he had enough time to do so because, by then, the rubber estate was making losses and his duties as equerry to the Governor-General were light (Cooper, 2009). Guests Bevis's home also had space for his guests/fr…