 In 1892, the old wooden
Residence, which had been considered inadequate as early as 1872, was demolished
to make way for a new brick Government House. The building cost £40,000
to build, and was of red and yellow brick and terracotta. The author, G.E.
Mitton, who was a guest, said in her "A Bachelor Girl in Burma" that it
had been "designed to give space and air. The hall runs right up to a dome,
and the upper stories are carried round it in a series of white arcades.
The handsomely carved teak staircase is in two branches, passing up two
sides. The floor is of mosaic, and a high arch opposited the entrace shows
a glimpse of one of the most magnificent ball-rooms in the world". She
stated that the walls were decorated with "fine specimens of Burmese wood-carving"
and other objects; this contradicts present day suggestions that the arts
of the country were never given pride of place by the British government.Ø
 Mitton noted that while
the ground floor was guarded by white-clad Indians, with daggers in their
belts, the downstairs servants were mostly Burmans, with "turbans and lyungyis
of the purest purple, with snowy white engies or jackets".
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With
much enjoyable anecdote, Noel Singer narrates the city's origins and development,
before the British annexation and after. The book is extravagantly illustrated
with period photographs, post cards and engravings. These historic pictures
are complemented by present-day colour shots that reveal the splendid architectural
heritage of Myanmar's capital.
