Historical Queens Hotel in Kandy

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Historical Queens Hotel in Kandy as seen in 1920

The Queens Hotel in Kandy is one of the first hotels to be established in Sri Lanka as well as one of the very few renowned international hotels for over 100 years.

The hotel lies at a strategic location just in front of the renowned Temple of Tooth Relic (Dalada Maligawa) in Kandy town. When the British captured Kandy in 1815, Walawwa of the Dullawe Nilame (residence) stood at this location. The Walawwa was designed by Devendra Mulachariya on instructions from King Sri Wickrama Rajasingha (1798 – 1815).

Soon after the British defeated the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815, it was taken over and used as a mansion for the Governor of Ceylon, with adjoining buildings constructed to house British troops. The building was subsequently converted into the barracks for the Ceylon Rifle Regiment. In 1840, the present dining hall was used as a hostel for Malay Rifle Regiment officers. Thus it was known as Malabar House and the street Malabar Street, now known as D S Senanayake Veediya.

Malabar House then became the Royal Boarding House (Wikipedia, 2022). Then it became known as the Stainton Hotel, managed by James Stainton. After he died in 1863 his wife continued to run the business until 1869. In November of that year, the ownership of the hotel changed hands and it was rebranded as the Queens Hotel by the new owners, Queens Hotel Company (Raheem & Colin-Thomè, 2000). The ownership of the hotel then moved to Kandy Hotels Company Limited in 1895 (Abeyawardhana,2004) which undertook extensive expansions and improvements to the building.

Current Hotel

The hotel still bears the 19th-century features of the ‘railway station architecture’ with rounded pillars and steel girdles retained to date. It has 80 rooms, including five suites, two restaurants, a coffee shop, a hair/beauty saloon and a souvenir/gift shop. It also has an outdoor swimming pool and BBQ facilities.

The Malabar House now serves as the banquet hall, while the Royal Boarding House is its central wing with its wide arches and timber floors.

Notable attractions of the hotel are the Queen of Hearts restaurant, Royal Ball Room and The Pub Royal, the latter being the only British Pub in the city that offers service with old colonial flavour. The Lord Mountbatten Lounge Bar was named after Lord Mountbatten of Burma who was a frequent guest at the Queen’s when he was the Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Theatre with the South East Asia Command based in Kandy.

Historical Queens Hotel in Kandy as seen today

References

Raheem, I. and Colin-Thomè Percy (2000) Images of british ceylon: Nineteenth Century photography of sri lanka. Singapore: Times Editions.
Abeyawardhana, H. A. P. (2004) Heritage of Kandurata: Major Natural, Cultural, and Historic Sites. Kandy: Kandurata Development Bank, in association with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Queen’s Hotel, kandy (2022) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Hotel,_Kandy (Accessed: December 10, 2022).

Also See

Kandy – The Last Kingdom of Sinhale

Map of Queens Hotel in Kandy

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Traveling Directions to Queens Hotel in Kandy

Kandy can be reached from Colombo on the old Colombo – Kandy road (option 1) which is scenic but heavy in traffic, especially on Fridays and Sundays. However, the new Central Expressway (option 2) has opened up a new route which is longer but less cumbersome.

Route 1 from Colombo to Kandy	Route 2 from Colombo to Kandy
Through : Katunayake Expressway – Central Expressway – Kurunegala Distance :150 km Travel time: 3.20 hours Driving Directions : see on Google map	Through : Katunayake Expressway – Central Expressway – Kurunegala Distance :150 km Travel Time: 3.20 hours Driving Directions : see on Google map
Route From Nuwara Eliya to Kandy
Through : Walapane – Raja Mawatha Distance :100 km Travel Time : 3.0 hours Driving Directions : see on Google map