c. 1908
13.90x
8.90cm
The Mount Lavinia Hotel was originally built in 1806, and after falling into disrepair, Mount Lavinia House was rebuilt in 1830 by the British Governor Edward Barnes at a cost of 30,000 pounds. It was designed along the lines of "Banqueting Palace" in Whitehall, by the architect Inigo Jones. Like an Italian villa, the house had a coach house, and military barracks and quarters. It still exists, and bills itself as "Sri Lanka's Premiere Colonial Hotel."
A gorgeous postcard by Plate & Co., the premiere postcard publisher in the island for perhaps half a century. On the back someone has written, presumably about the cards "Essex left, Overland Right."