Avishka Mario Senewiratne
The Karlsruhe Bungalow was the final abode of Sri Lanka’s greatest Burgher, C. A. Lorenz. The origins of Karlsruhe are not clear. Lorenz purchased it from Drs. Vam Beck and Dickman in 1870, but lived there only for a few months till his untimely death in 1871. Lorenz bestowed this valuable property opposite the Welikada prison to his loyal housekeeper. Later, in the early 1900s the Methodist Church brought this property to site Wesley College.
The bungalow famous for its fine pillars and coloumns as well as the long verandah has been well preserved to date by Wesley College. The Satinwood Screen (separating the sitting and dining room) however is the highlight of the bungalow.
Special thanks to Avanka Fernando, Principal of Wesley College for letting me survey and photograph this heritage site.
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ALSO NOTE
Charles Ambrose Lorenz
The YOUNG CEYLON Circle, a literary and political agit-prop collective working in the samespirit as the “Young Italy” and “Young England movements of the mid-nineteenth century – see Roberts, Colin-Thome & Raheem: People Inbetween, Ratmalana, Sarasavi Publishers, 1989 ….
SOME REFERENCES
https://wesleycollegecolombo.info/history1.html
Percy Colin-Thomé and the Composition of the Book People Inbetween
People Inbetween: Ethnic & Class Prejudices in British Ceylon
