Helga's Folly is a star-class boutique hotel/guest house situated at the eastern end of Nuwara Wewa in Kandy, Sri Lanka.
History
The hotel is owned by Helga de Silva Blow Perera, the daughter of Fredrick de Silva (1912-1993), a Member of the Ceylon Parliament between 1954 and 1956. Originally it was their family home, designed by Helga's mother, Esme de Silva in the 1930s. The present house is said to have been designed in the 1960s by Helga's aunt Minette de Silva (1918-1998) who is considered the first Asian woman to be elected an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects [(RIBA) Daswatte, 2012].
In the beginning, the hotel was known as the Chalet Hotel but it was renamed Helga's Folly later (Daswatte, 2012).
The hotel
The hotel consists of several rooms categorized as deluxe and superior. Self-designated as an 'anti-hotel', the walls and ceilings of the hotel are decorated with various antiques, graphic art, collections of stag horns, family photographs and murals including modernist paintings from the 43rd Group.
The Welsh singer and songwriter Kelly Jones of the "Strereophonics" was inspired to write the single Madam Helga (2003) whilst staying in this hotel.
Attribution
References
1) Daswatte, C., 2012. Sri Lanka Style: Tropical Design and Architecture. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN: 978-1-4629-0656-7.
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This page was last updated on 10 July 2023