Still Standing! 19th Century Missionary House in Phrae, Thailand

Written by Karl Dahlfred on .

While searching for something else, I recently stumbled across a Thai newspaper article announcing the discovery of a 19th century wooden house in Phrae, Thailand, that was the original residence of the first missionaries who arrived there in the 1890s.  The Thai headline expressed my feelings exactly: "Shock!  Wooden Missionary House in Phrae - over 100 years old!"  And the house is in good shape too!  I was totally fascinated by the modern photos of the type of house that I had only previously seen in small, grainy, black-and-white photos in Thai church history books and missionary biographies.   I thought for sure that such residences were long gone but to find one still standing is simply fantastic.  I was immediately stuck that the design of this house is extremely similar to old pictures I’ve seen of those in Chiang Mai and Petchburi.  

Here is the lead photo from the newspaper article showing the house in Phrae.  The whole article (in Thai) with more photos can be found here (link obsolote).

Update November 2023:
I've learned that this house has been preserved as a historical museum and can be visited.  Google map location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/abcfiC8fuKg5SZ79A

 

 
 



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