In British Burma, the pinnacle of colonial rule was the Government House: the residence of the governor of Rangoon (now Yangon) and the seat of the colonial government.
The mansion, now demolished, was located at the corner of Pyay Road and Ahlone Road in Dagon Township, which is now the site of the Yangon regional parliament. Construction of the residence began in 1892 and was completed in 1895. It cost 717,000 rupees at the time and was designed by architect Hoyne-Fox, who also designed the Secretariat Building. The Governor House building, according to Hoyne-Fox, was a revived form in the Queen Anne style that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and early decades of the 20th century.
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After military dictator General Ne Win staged a coup in 1962, the residence became the office of the Union Revolutionary Council. But General Ne Win barely used the Government House and usually held cabinet meetings at a building on Inya Lake, along AD Road (now May Kha Road).
In 1975, however, a powerful earthquake struck Bagan and damaged hundreds of pagodas—a bad omen for the 80-year-old colonial residence. Whether true or not, the excuse was made that the house was damaged in the earthquake and it was demolished in 1978. National League for Democracy Patron U Tin Oo later told his biographer that the residence was leveled at the order of General Ne Win. Today, only a scale model of the residence remains, which can be seen at the National Museum in Yangon.
