Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The printing school has had no specific use for several years beyond being used for storage
by the Treasury Department, but is listed by the Fine Arts Department as a heritage site.
Opposite, curving to follow the route of the moat, is a long terrace of attractive shop-
houses, several of which have been converted into restaurants, the best-known being Roti
Mataba, founded near to Thammasat University and which has been here for thirty years.
At the far end of this row is a fragment of wall with a spirit house, and this is all that re-
mains of one of the first palaces to have been built during those earliest days of Bangkok.
The palace was the residence of Prince Chakra Chesada. This area around the fort grew
into a district of grand houses and palaces, a neighbourhood of nobles and courtiers,
and although most of those prior to Rama
III
's time have gone the same way of Prince
Chesada's palace, there are many splendid later examples still standing along Phra Arthit
Road, mostly converted into offices and restaurants and galleries, their architecture bear-
ing in many cases the firm imprint of Europe.
Pleasure launch moored amongst water hyacinth at the entrance to the second moat.
Follow leafy Phra Arthit Road as it runs along the riverbank. The road dates from
Rama
V
's time, the gradual removal of fortifications having provided more space for
streets, and conservation directives protect the architectural beauties along here. Baan
Chao Phraya, directly next to Santichai Prakarn Park, was built in the latter half of the
nineteenth century as the home of Prince Khamrob, who was Director General of the
City Police Department. Erected on the site of an earlier palace, it is very much in the
European style, with fanlights above the windows, a delicate balcony, and a cladding of
cream-coloured stucco. Next to this is the Buddhist Association of Thailand, housed in
the palace of Princess Manassawas Sooksawadi. Opposite at 201/1 is Baan Phra Arthit,
built in 1926 on the site of a timber palace by Finance Minister Phraya Vorapongpipat. For
a period of about twenty-five years, beginning from 1962, the Goethe Institute had rented
this house, which is now inhabited by a private company. The house was carefully renov-
ated about twenty years ago, the architects conserving the original structure and detail-
