137 Pillars House

The Hotel

137 Pillars House occupies the former East Borneo Company merchant house — a 1889 teak structure built by William Bain, the Scottish-born superintendent of the British company that operated the Northern Thai teak-logging trade through the late 19th century. The building stands on a 0.6-hectare property in the Wat Ket district on the eastern bank of the Mae Ping River, two blocks east of the river crossing and four blocks from the Old City. The architectural decision is the principal proposition: the original 1889 teak structure — with its distinguishing 137 hand-cut teak pillars supporting the elevated main residence — has been preserved and restored across a 2010-2012 conservation programme, with the contemporary hotel-suite addition wrapping discreetly around the original house. The property opened on 1 December 2012 as the flagship of the Asia Pacific Resorts collection (the small Australian-owned hospitality group founded by Christchurch-born hotelier Anita Sharma).

The 30 suites — including 5 named heritage suites in the original house — divide between three primary categories. Heritage Suites in the original 1889 building (5 rooms at 60 to 110 sqm; the Louis T. Leonowens Suite, the Anna Leonowens Suite, the Pillars Suite among them — named for the 19th-century European personalities of the Northern Thai colonial period) include original parquet, restored teak panel work, and antique furnishings. Rajah Brooke Suites in the contemporary wing (15 rooms at 75 sqm with private terraces) and East Borneo Suites (10 rooms at 95 sqm). The Anna Leonowens Suite at 110 sqm is the milestone unit, named for the British-born governess who served the Siamese royal court between 1862 and 1867 (the inspiration for The King and I). Bathrooms are travertine and brass; bath products are Thann, the Thai botanical brand.

Palette is the principal restaurant — a contemporary Pacific-Asian register opened with the hotel — running an ambitious tasting programme rooted in Thai-and-Australian-Pacific produce; the kitchen has held strong reviews across the international press for the past decade. The Jack Bain's Bar — named for the 1889 founder, in the original ground-floor verandah of the East Borneo House — runs the cocktail and aperitivo programme. The Library is the after-dinner programme. The central courtyard pool — surrounded by the original teak pillars and frangipani trees — is the property's signature image. The 137 Spa runs four treatment rooms with the Thann-aromatherapy programme.

The Wat Ket position is the booking proposition. From the front door it is two minutes by tuk-tuk to the river crossing, four minutes to the Old City and the Tha Phae Gate, six minutes to the Sunday Walking Street market, three minutes to the Wat Ket Karam temple, and 20 minutes by car to Chiang Mai International Airport. The Wat Ket district is the historic colonial-merchant quarter — quieter than the Old City, with the original missionary-school, Anglican-church and merchant-house architecture intact. For travellers wanting the Old-Chiang-Mai-merchant-house register and the central walking-Chiang-Mai brief, 137 Pillars House is unambiguous. Four Seasons is the rural-resort alternative; 137 is the central-heritage answer.

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