Sirimathipaya Mansion
Sirimathipaya Mansion houses the Prime Minister's Office. It is located on Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha (formerly Flower Road), Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Sirimathipaya Mansiona | |
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General information | |
Address | Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha |
Town or city | Colombo |
Country | Sri Lanka |
Owner | Government of Sri Lanka |
History
The mansion was the home of Sir Ernest de Silva who was one of the richest people in the country, during which the house was equipped then with horse stables and tennis courts.[1] Following the death of Sir Ernest, the house remain within the de Silva family until it was acquired by the government by the Land Reforms Commission (LRC) in the 1973. It housed the Ministry of Education, but was in state of disrepair. In 1978 Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa had the building renovated and moved the Prime Minister office into the mansion.[2]
Terrorist attack
The LTTE carried out a suicide bombing at the Prime Minister's Office, on 5 January 2000, in an attempted assassination, in which a female suicide bomber detonated a bomb outside the building, killing thirteen civilians and three police officers attached to the PMSD.