George Steuart Building (Colombo Fort)

George Steuart Building (Colombo Fort)

George Steuart Building (Photo credit: Google Street View) The George Steuart Building (Sinhala: ජෝර්ජ් ස්ටුවර්ට් ගොඩනැගිල්ල) is located at No. 45, Hospital Street in Colombo Fort, Sri Lanka. Also known as the " Steuart House ", it is one of the oldest buildings built during the British colonial period [(British Ceylon: 1815-1948) Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016] .  The building was the headquarters of George Steuart & Co. Ltd, the  first company registered in Sri  Lanka  (Welandawe & Weerasinghe, 2016).  The company itself was founded in 1835 by sea captain James Steuart ( 1790-1870) who  secured the business to his brother George  Steuart ( 1808-1896 )  and named the firm after him. Initially emerged as a  large-scale coffee producer, t he company suffered a temporary setback in the early 1870s when the rust disease Hemileia vastatrix wiped out the country's coffee plantations in 1869.  As a result, the company replaced coffee with tea and later became a renowned tea exporter…