Gaffoor Building

Gaffoor Building
The Gaffoor Building is an old building in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka. Located on the corner of the Sir Baron Jayatilaka Mawatha and Leyden Bastian Street, it is a wedge-shaped building of four stories. 

History
This building is said to have been built in 1907 by H. W. Cave, a leading writer and a book publisher at the time (Manathunga, 2016; Rajapakshe et al., 2018; Wright, 1999). The printing, binding and all other marketing works of the travel and religious books published by his business named the H. W. Cave & Company were done from the offices established at this building (Manathunga, 2016; Rajapakshe et al., 2018). Besides that, the building also provided space for the offices of other companies that are involved in businesses related to sports and music items as well as crockery and silverware (Manathunga, 2016; Rajapakshe et al., 2018). It is said that this building was begun to call the Gaffoor Building after it was purchased by Abdul Gaffoor (Manathunga, 2016; Rajapakshe et al., 2018).
 
However, as mentioned in another source, the Gaffoor Building was completed in 1915 and was owned by the prominent jewellery trader N.D.H. Abdul Gaffoor (Macmillan, 2005). At the time it was considered as one of the largest and finest commercial structures in Colombo (Macmillan, 2005). 

Attribution
1) Colombo by massa 我嫌日的冬 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

References
1) Macmillan, A., ed., 2005. Extract from Seaports of India and Ceylon (first published in 1928). Asian Educational Services. p.479.
2) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. pp.40-41. 
3) Rajapakshe, S.; Bandara, T. M. C.; Vanninayake, R. M. B. T. A. B. (Editors), 2018. Puravidya Sthana Namavaliya: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Vol. I. Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 978-955-7457-19-2. p.22.
4) Wright, A. ed., 1999. Twentieth Century Impressions of Ceylon: Its History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (first published in 1907). Asian Educational Services. pp.455-456.

Location Map
This page was last updated on 25 July 2021
For a complete tourist map follow this link: Lankapradeepa Tourist Map
Previous Post Next Post