A House by the River
THAILAND · BANGKOK
Chakrabongse Villas, 396 Maharaj Road, Tatien, Bangkok
In 1906, a Siamese prince and a Ukrainian woman eloped and married secretly in a church in Constantinople without telling anyone. Prince Chakrabongse was the 40th son of King Chulalongkorn — Rama V — and had met Kateryna Desnytska while studying in St Petersburg. The prince passed away at the age of 37. Their son Prince Chula was raised between Bangkok and England, eventually settling in Cornwall. The house on the river — built in 1908 as a quiet retreat from palace life — passed through the family’s hands across the decades.
Then Narisa inherited it.
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The Building
The house was designed by Mario Tamagno, the Turin-born architect responsible for many of Bangkok’s most distinguished buildings of the era. It sits on Rattanakosin Island — the historic heart of old Bangkok, steps from the Grand Palace — facing Wat Arun across the Chao Phraya. The river is everywhere: visible from the garden, from the floating dining pavilion, from the suites that open onto the water. Seven suites in the tropical gardens surrounding the main house, each different, each filled with three generations of the Chakrabongse family’s objects.
The main house itself is still lived in. Narisa — a quarter Thai, a quarter Ukrainian, half English, born in London, schooled between Cornwall and Bangkok’s royal Chitralada Palace — is its custodian. She founded River Books, one of Southeast Asia’s most important publishers of art and cultural history. She wrote Katya and the Prince of Siam, her grandparents’ love story. She opened the villas to guests.
The Stay
Seven suites, each named and furnished individually. The river-facing rooms have views of Wat Arun — the Temple of Dawn — directly across the water, the spire changing colour as the light moves through the day. At sunset, it turns gold. The kitchen serves royal Thai cuisine from the family’s own recipes, prepared under Narisa’s eye. Five tables only, on the riverside terrace. Dinner here is one of the most considered meals in Bangkok.
The salt-water pool sits in the garden, surrounded by frangipanis. The Grand Palace is fifteen minutes on foot. Wat Pho, Wat Arun, the old fort — this is the historic quarter of Bangkok.
The Particulars
The riverside dinner — five tables, royal Thai recipes, Wat Arun across the water. Open to non-guests but book well in advance.
Wat Arun at sunrise — cross the river on the public ferry from the pier beside the hotel. The temple at dawn, before the crowds arrive, is one of Bangkok’s finest experiences.
Wat Pho — the Temple of the Reclining Buddha, three hundred metres away. The oldest temple in Bangkok and home to the original school of Thai massage. Go in the early morning.
Pak Khlong Talat — Bangkok’s flower market, four hundred metres away. Open 24 hours. Marigolds, orchids, jasmine garlands — the scent reaches the street before you arrive.
Museum of Siam — a neo-classical building a short walk away, dedicated to Thai history and identity.
The Grand Palace — fifteen minutes on foot through the old city. Visit early, before the head and crowds arrive.
The river ferry — the public longtail from the pier beside the hotel. The most atmospheric way to move through Bangkok.
Who it’s for
For those who find that sleeping in a house where the story is still being lived — where the owner is a publisher and writer and great-granddaughter of a king, still here, still cooking the palace recipes, still keeping the objects of three extraordinary lives — matters more than any amenity. For guests who want old Bangkok from the inside rather than the outside.
Photography courtesy of Chakrabongse Villas
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