Sirimathipaya Mansion


Sirimathipaya Mansion houses the Prime Minister's Office. It is located on Sir Ernest de Silva Mawatha, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, 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. 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 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.

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.