Victoria Memorial Eye and Ear Hospital, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The Victoria Memorial Eye and Ear Hospital was established in 1906, and named in honor of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. This red-and-yellow brick colonial building is in the Indo-Saracenic style and it was designed by Colombo based architect Edward Skinner.
In 1864, with demand for health services growing, the Colonial Government sought to move its Prince Street hospital to a location with space aplenty. The re-location choice was a 32-acre kurunduwatte (cinnamon land) in the ‘countryside’ of Longdon Place, away from the residential areas of Mutwal and Mattakkuliya.
It is during Governor Henry Ward’s period (1855-1860) that plans had been drawn up and £ 3,000, a princely sum at that time, earmarked for the hospital complex.
What did the area look like? Here is a description of the location of the General Hospital by Dr. Andreas Nell who was born the year that the hospital was opened.
“The General Hospital was built in a not-too-populated neighbourhood of the city. Approaching from the north, was a leafy lane behind Tichborne Hall and The Gatharium, two large residences in Maradana. From the east, there was a similar lane from the Welikada jail, on which among the very few other houses were two rival establishments providing coffins. From the west, Turret Road, one saw where the Eye Hospital now stands another small low-built bungalow which was called the Mango Lodge. This was used by the later Dutch Governors as a hunting lodge. From the right, along Regent Street there were only five houses. Leaving the hospital southwards was a long avenue to the cemetery at Kanatte. When naming this street in Colombo, this avenue was called Kynsey Road after Sir William Kynsey, Head of the Medical Department.”
The red and yellow Victoria Memorial Eye Ward built in 1903, in keeping with Hindu-Saracen architecture and is believed to be the first permanent building on the premises.
The suggestion that it should be built to commemorate Queen Victoria had come from none other than the Governor’s wife, Lady Ridgeway. With a fund being set up to help those with eye ailments, philanthropist Muhandiram N.S. Fernando had donated Rs. 5,000 while appeals through the newspapers had been able to raise Rs. 100,000 from the public.
Designed by popular British architect Edward Skinner and constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 160,000, the building with a commanding view of Lipton’s Circus has walls of 200’ in length and 97’ in breadth at the front. Two portraits that are said to have adorned the area close to the elevator, those of Queen Victoria and major donor Fernando, are no more.
Now this building put up at Lady Ridgeway’s urgings is benefiting vascular and transplant patients as well as those with orthopaedic problems.
Victoria Memorial Eye and Ear Hospital, Colombo, Sri Lanka
The Victoria Memorial Eye and Ear Hospital was established in 1906, and named in honor of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897. This red-and-yellow brick colonial building is in the Indo-Saracenic style and it was designed by Colombo based architect Edward Skinner.
In 1864, with demand for health services growing, the Colonial Government sought to move its Prince Street hospital to a location with space aplenty. The re-location choice was a 32-acre kurunduwatte (cinnamon land) in the ‘countryside’ of Longdon Place, away from the residential areas of Mutwal and Mattakkuliya.
It is during Governor Henry Ward’s period (1855-1860) that plans had been drawn up and £ 3,000, a princely sum at that time, earmarked for the hospital complex.
What did the area look like? Here is a description of the location of the General Hospital by Dr. Andreas Nell who was born the year that the hospital was opened.
“The General Hospital was built in a not-too-populated neighbourhood of the city. Approaching from the north, was a leafy lane behind Tichborne Hall and The Gatharium, two large residences in Maradana. From the east, there was a similar lane from the Welikada jail, on which among the very few other houses were two rival establishments providing coffins. From the west, Turret Road, one saw where the Eye Hospital now stands another small low-built bungalow which was called the Mango Lodge. This was used by the later Dutch Governors as a hunting lodge. From the right, along Regent Street there were only five houses. Leaving the hospital southwards was a long avenue to the cemetery at Kanatte. When naming this street in Colombo, this avenue was called Kynsey Road after Sir William Kynsey, Head of the Medical Department.”
The red and yellow Victoria Memorial Eye Ward built in 1903, in keeping with Hindu-Saracen architecture and is believed to be the first permanent building on the premises.
The suggestion that it should be built to commemorate Queen Victoria had come from none other than the Governor’s wife, Lady Ridgeway. With a fund being set up to help those with eye ailments, philanthropist Muhandiram N.S. Fernando had donated Rs. 5,000 while appeals through the newspapers had been able to raise Rs. 100,000 from the public.
Designed by popular British architect Edward Skinner and constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 160,000, the building with a commanding view of Lipton’s Circus has walls of 200’ in length and 97’ in breadth at the front. Two portraits that are said to have adorned the area close to the elevator, those of Queen Victoria and major donor Fernando, are no more.
Now this building put up at Lady Ridgeway’s urgings is benefiting vascular and transplant patients as well as those with orthopaedic problems.