Braemar was the principal adulthood home of

J. R. Jayewardene Junius Richard Jayewardene (; ; 17 September 1906 – 1 November 1996), commonly referred to by his initials JR, was a Sri Lankan lawyer, public official and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka from 1977 to 1978 and as the secon ...

, former

President of Sri Lanka The president of Sri Lanka ( ''Śrī Laṅkā Janādhipati''; ''Ilaṇkai janātipati'') is the head of state and head of government of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. The president is the chief executive of the union governm ...

. Jayewardene and his wife Elina built it in 1938 located Ward Place,

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

. The original house built by Gilbert Leonard Rupasinghe, a

Notary Public A notary public ( notary or public notary; notaries public) of the common law is a public officer constituted by law to serve the public in non-contentious matters usually concerned with general financial transactions, estates, deeds, powers- ...

and a successful businessmen, named it Braemar after

Braemar Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee, sitting at an elevation of . The Gaelic ''Bràigh Mhàrr'' p ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Rupasinghe was the father of Jayewardene's wife Elina Bandara Rupasinghe. When the Jayewardene and Elina married in 1935, they moved into Jayewardene's parents house, Vaijantha. In 1938, the couple demolished old Braemar and in its grounds they built their new house which retained the name ''Braemar''. Moving into it soon after, it was their home until the deaths of J. R. Jayewardene and Elina. Even during his tenure as Prime Minister and President, Jayewardenes remained at Braemar using

President's House, Colombo President's House is the official residence and workplace of the President of Sri Lanka, located at Janadhipathi Mawatha, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since 1804 it had been the residence of British Governors and Governors-General and was known as the ...

only for official functions. The house and its land was gifted to the Inland Revenue Department by President Jayewardene in lieu of tax with the request for the house to be used by the Institute of Fundamental Studies. In 1985, Jayewardene amended the deed of gift stating it should be given to the Department of Archaeology with the objective of creating a museum and called for and exhibit on the Rupasinghe family. The deed was amended in 1993, including the Inland Revenue Department and adding the final recipient as the J. R. Jayewardene Centre. J. R. Jayewardene and Elina Jayewardene retained life interest until their deaths. The property is currently owned by the J. R. Jayewardene Centre.

References

Houses in Colombo J. R. Jayewardene {{SriLanka-struct-stub

See also

References