Cyril and Esme Wickremesinghe moved into Lakmahal in January 1937. The Parsi architect Billimoria was responsible for the final design and construction, but the inspiration for the layout was Cyril’s.
It was an unusual design, with a long narrow front verandah giving onto three doors, two of them double, one quadruple. The main doors led into a hallway, while parallel to these was the set of four that gave onto a long dining room that was really an extension of the hall through a wide arch. It contained a table at which twelve could sit comfortably, with a wide bay containing five windows opposite the hall. Opposite the quadruple doorway was a small pantry which, by the time of my childhood, contained an electric cooker in a recent concession to the modern world. Continue reading