Built in the 1870's as a circuit Bungalow for British Government Agents (GA), with the first British GA occupant being with Mr. W. Harington, the Polonnaruwa Rest House was carefully refurbished in the style of the early 1950's, whilst retaining its colonial charm, after been taken over by the then Ceylon Tourist Bureau in 1954 and thereafter by Ceylon Hotels Corporation (CHC) in 1968..