The Cinnamon gardens District, approximately a block inland (east) from galle Road, shows not a trace of the spice plantations from which it gets its name, but is now the city's university and diplomatic quarter and its wealthiest residential area. With its boulevards lined with jacaranda and frangipani trees, it is in sharp contrast to the grime, commerce and visible poverty of the pettah area to the north. The white-domed Town Hall, said to have been modelled on the US White House, is a major landmark, overlooking the semicircular expanse of Viharamahadevi Park, colombo's largest and most elegant and attractive green space. The park is at its prettiest from March to may, before the Monsoon arrives, when its brilliant flower. In the centre of the Park a statue od Queen Victoria comemmorates her rule over the island, while on the lawns near the Town Hall a golden image of the Buddha represents an even older heritage.