One of the best examples of traditional Thai residential architecture and a breathtaking collection of Southeast Asian art are exemplified in a house built by an American national. Nonetheless, Jim Thompson’s House is one of Bangkok’s more popular destinations for visitors – and deservedly so. Jim Thompson, who was born in Delaware in 1906, fell in love with Thailand while posted as an intelligence agent in Bangkok during WWII. He later made it his permanent home and started a business supplying fine Thai silk to overseas fashion houses, single-handedly saving what had been a dying cottage industry. His silk company continues to flourish today. With the proceeds of his success, Thompson collected an impressive range of art works, and sections of derelict teak houses, assembling them into a teak house/museum complex set in a lush garden alongside central Bangkok’s Saen Saep Canal. The main house is full of tastefully displayed Asian art and curios including Buddha images, paintings, ceramics and antique furniture. The living areas have been preserved as they were when Thompson lived there before his mysterious disappearance in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands while on holiday in 1967. Near the entrance there is a newly-built Thai restaurant and bar plus a sizeable boutique selling quality silk items, books and prints.
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