Wikipedia
Old Parliament Building, Sri Lanka
- Design firm
- Austin Woodeson
- Typology
- Other
- Years
- 1920–1930
- Status
- Complete
Facade facts
- Facade summary
- A grand,symmetrical Neo-Baroque facade facing the ocean, marked by a majestic central Ionic portico and a wide staircase.
- Documented intention
- Designed to project the power and institutional stability of the British colonial administration, borrowing the democratic weight of Classical Greek and Roman architecture.
- Street relationship
- The building is set back behind a large plaza and overlooks Galle Face Green and the Indian Ocean,offering a dramatic coastal-civic presence.
- Climate relationship
- The massive masonry construction provides high thermal inertia, while the deep setback of the portico shades the main entrance from the intense tropical sun of Colombo.
- Window pattern
- Symmetrical repetitive grid
- Glazing
- Single clear glazing
- Depth
- Deep central recess under the portico with shallow pilasters along the flanking wings.
- Rhythm
- Regular, repeating window bays separated by classical pilasters.
- Brick masonry with cement-lime plaster
- Brick masonry with cement-lime plaster — Main exterior walls and ornamental mouldings — Painted stucco
- Massive masonry wall system
- Load-bearing brick and concrete masonry walls finished with protective external plaster.
Tags
- 1921–1930
- A grand
- Administrative and Executive Offices
- Austin Woodeson
- Brick
- Brick masonry with cement-lime plaster
- British Colonial Period
- Classical colonnaded portico
- Colombo
- Deep recessed glazing
- Government Office
- Granite
- Granite carving
- Granite — Columns
- Load-bearing masonry
- Masonry cladding
- Neo-Baroque
- Other
- Plastered brickwork
- Regular
- Sash windows
- Single clear glazing
- Sri Lanka
- Symmetrical repetitive grid
- Tropical monsoon (Am)
- Waterfront
- Western Province
- and podium cladding — Smooth-dressed
- grand staircase
- offering a dramatic coastal-civic presence.
- stucco
- symmetrical Neo-Baroque facade facing the ocean
Description
The main western facade of the Old Parliament Building is characterized by its strict symmetry and classical composition. The centerpiece is a grand hexastyle Ionic portico raised on a monumental stone base, reached via a wide flight of steps. This portico is topped by a richly carved pediment. The flanking wings feature two primary levels of fenestration over a rusticated basement level, with rectangular windows framed by ornamental pediments and architraves, all rendered in plaster to simulate dressed ashlar stone.
Visual analysis
The structure presents a stark contrast between the heavy, grounded granite base and the highly articulated, lighter-toned classical ordering of the upper levels.
Gallery
Sources
- The Parliament of Sri Lanka · Secretariat of the Parliament of Sri Lanka