- In 1912, the son of a wealthy plantation owner built a house in Sri Lanka in order to marry his bride.
- In 2011, four friends bought the crumbling remains of this once magnificent villa for R6.2 million.
- They are now renting out the mansion to guests at R18,850 per night.
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In 2010, interior designer Dean Sharpe first caught a glimpse of this crumbling mansion on a hillside in Sri Lanka near Weligama. In its glory days, Haralakanda (known locally as Firefly Mountain) hosted guests such as the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie and the legendary Australian cricketer Keith Miller. In 1912, the son of a wealthy plantation owner built this mansion in order to marry his bride.
But when Sharp first saw it, the tired relic with broken plaster looked like it had disappeared in the jungle. Corals and stone walls collapsed, bats perched on rafters, windows were sealed with wooden planks, and a tree grew from the roof of the entrance.
“This is what used to be a ruin,” Sharp said. “But we walked in and fell in love with it.”
In 2011, together with friends Jenny Lewis, Richard Bleasdale and Bentley de Beyer, he bought this shaky, 100-year-old villa and two acres of land for US$430,000 (R6.2 million).
Sharp’s task was to create the appearance of the villa, surrounding an open-air courtyard. The team commissioned architect Ross Logie to realize their dream.
The project started in December 2012, a full 100 years from completion. “We want it to look as real as possible,” Sharp said. “But we don’t want to imitate what happened before.”
Courtesy Harala Kanda
Maintain bones
Because the friends wanted to preserve as much of the original building as possible, they carefully considered every piece of the house before scrapping: “We didn’t make a big bonfire and burned everything. Every window frame and roof joist were Remove and stack carefully,” Sharp said.
They couldn’t catch some parts of the villa. The grand entrance was crumbling, and the tiled roof of the kitchen wing collapsed. Termites attacked the plaster, which meant that the builders had to scrape the walls back to the original coral and stone structure.
“The demolition work took four months to complete,” Sharp said. “Builders are worried because they need to put tarpaulins on the roof to protect it from the monsoon season.” He declined to say how much they spent on refurbishing the property.
Sharp replaced the roof with white corrugated iron to reflect heat and give the house a modern feel. It also helps prevent monkeys on the roof: “The tiles were replaced in the 1950s, so they are not the turn of the century. We need to protect it because it is a bit like a monkey highway,” Sharp said.
Courtesy Harala Kanda
Modern supplement
In the past, the well in the garden was the only source of water for the villa, but my friends arranged it to be connected to a local water pipe. They also installed air conditioning, plumbing and electrical systems. By 2014, the house is in a livable state, but work is still in progress.
Logie’s plan for the house followed the original footprint of the house, but they made the interior rooms more practical. Rogi created a line of sight in the house, allowing every room to have a distant view. He also installed a 23-meter-long saltwater pool in the garden, stupid in Art Nouveau style, and built a staff dormitory on the hillside.
Logie said that the biggest challenge is to ensure that the quality of the original work will not be lost due to renovations.
“I think we achieved this by matching the spirit of the existing villas with harmonious and modern complements,” he said. “For example, swimming pools and pool pavilions are clearly designed for modern life, but the pool pavilions have the smooth style of Art Nouveau in the early 20th century.”
Courtesy Harala Kanda
Surprise everywhere
“When we cut down the bushes, we found cashew forests, mango gardens and coconut trees,” Sharp said. “It’s like we found a secret garden.” The friends also planted coffee and tea trees, pineapple and citrus orchards, and pepper and cinnamon vines.
In the 1950s, this mansion featured soft walls, but Sharp decided to let the building shine with a simple monochromatic theme. He did not paint on the wooden rafters as was popular before, but exposed them to show the artistry.
In terms of decoration, Sharp was looking for antiques in rural Sri Lanka and let local artisans make other antiques. He commissioned a carpenter who recently returned from work in Abu Dhabi Hotel to make sofas and four-poster beds for the mansion.
Courtesy Harala Kanda
The antique shopping trip gave birth to the curiosity room next to the entrance of the house. “It contains the purchases we collect and the items that people leave to us. The idea is that it is added to it,” Sharp said. Antiques include hexagonal wooden tables inlaid with Sri Lankan tropical wood, as well as chess, street puppets and books.
“The House of Curiosity is my favorite place in the house. I like to sit and read or listen to music and hear the buzz in the house-from the people in the swimming pool to the clicks in the kitchen,” Sharp said.
Friends are now renting out the villa to guests for 1,300 USD (18,850 Rand) per night. Jaala Dyer, a TV host from New Zealand, rented this villa with friends from Singapore in 2018.
“From time to time you will stumble upon something truly special. This is the perfect way to describe Halala Kanda,” Dell said. “It is architecturally interesting and luxurious, without clinical and distinctive. You feel good sitting anywhere in the house.”
Although the pandemic prevented international tourism, families from Sri Lanka were able to enjoy the villas. The property’s sustainable tea plantation also helped pay for part of the cost of maintaining the operation of the villa.
Sharpe said that although they still want to make some changes to the house, such as creating a new family suite, it has given them a lot of fun. Even before they finished the renovation, it hosted Ben’s 40th birthday party. “There are so many wonderful little moments,” Sharp said.
Courtesy Harala Kanda
