Kathaluwa Walawwa, also known as Atadahewatta Walawwa or Atadagewatta Walawwa or Kataluwa Maha Walawwa (Sinhala: කතළුව වලව්ව), is a historic Walawwa building located near Kataluwa Railway Station in Galle District, Sri Lanka.
History
Originally built in around 1625, the Walawwa was the ancestral home of the J.P. Obeysekara family and then the members of the Jayawardane family (Abeyawardana, 2004; De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009). Don Owen Ferdinandez, the ancestor of the Obeyesekara family who belonged to a Portuguese family in Europe, came to Ceylon and bought the land in Kataluwa and constructed a Walawwa, which was later known as Atadahe Walawwa since he grew 8,000 coconut plants on the land where the house was erected (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009).
The Walawwa was renovated and modified in 1944 (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009). It at one time functioned as a Court House to hear cases at Talpe Pattu in Galle District. Some parts of the building were partially damaged due to the Tsunami disaster in 2004. Presently the building is used as a hotel.
The building
The building is considered a good specimen of the colonial architecture of the 18th to 19th centuries (Abeyawardana, 2004). The front verandah of the building consists of an inner row of wooden columns and an outer facade with masonry arches (De Silva & Chandrasekara, 2009). The large doors, windows and inner courtyard are considered architectural features of the colonial period.
A protected monument
The Kathauwa Atadage Walawwa and its boundary wall in Kathaluwa East Grama Niladhari Division in the Divisional Secretariat Division of Habaraduwa are archaeological protected monuments, declared by a government Gazette notification published on 6 July 2007.
References
1) Abeyawardana,
H.A.P., 2004. Heritage of Ruhuna: Major natural, cultural and historic
sites. Colombo: The Central Bank of Sri Lanka. ISBN: 955-575-073-4.
pp.34-35.
2) De Silva, N.; Chandrasekara, D.P., 2009. Heritage Buildings of Sri Lanka. Colombo: The National Trust Sri Lanka, ISBN: 978-955-0093-01-4. p.140.
3) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1505. 6 July 2007. p.549.
2) De Silva, N.; Chandrasekara, D.P., 2009. Heritage Buildings of Sri Lanka. Colombo: The National Trust Sri Lanka, ISBN: 978-955-0093-01-4. p.140.
3) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. No: 1505. 6 July 2007. p.549.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 17 September 2022
