The chief architect of the Public Works Department, Austin Woodeson, was responsible for the design of the building.
The new building was of two parts, the smaller but grander Council Chamber with a Neo-baroque façade, which faced the Indian Ocean to the west.
Effectively the two building became the centre of the government of the island for the next twenty years till Ceylon gained independence in 1949.
For many years after independence the headquarters of the CID of the Police was based here on the fourth floor[1] which gain much ill fame.
Following independence, new government ministries and departments were set up to carry out policy formulated by the Cabinet of Ministers.