The old Chartered Bank of India Building (Sinhala: කොළඹ ඉන්දියානු චාර්ටඩ් බැංකු ගොඩනැගිල්ල) is located at No. 17, Janadipathi Mawatha in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka.
This Neo-Classical building was constructed following the plan of two British nationals, Reed and Buth (Manathunga, 2016). It once housed the Oriental Bank which had collapsed in the late 19th century when the rust disease Hemileia vastatrix wiped out the country's coffee industry in 1869 (Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016). Presently, it is occupied by the Chartered Bank of India which started for Indian merchants in 1892 with the association of the Royal Chartered Bank of Britain (Manathunga, 2016).
It is a three-storied building with architectural features deviating from the traditional Neo-Classical style. Oriental details with eight elephant head sculptures on the entrance wall are notable. Several changes have been done to the building between 1930-1933 (Manathunga, 2016).
A protected monument
The Charted Bank building located at Janadipathi Mawatha Street in Colombo Fort, in the Divisional Secretary’s Division of Colombo is an archaeological protected monument, declared by a government gazette notification published on 21 January 2000.
See also
References
1) Manathunga, S. B., 2016. Pauranika Sthana Saha Smaraka: Kolamba Distrikkaya (In Sinhala). Department of Archaeology (Sri Lanka). ISBN: 955-9159-39-9. p.35.
2) The Gazette of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. no: 1116. 21 January 2000.
3) Welandawe, H., Weerasinghe, J., 2016. Urban Heritage in the Western Region Megapolis Planning Project. p.16.
Location Map
This page was last updated on 14 November 2022
