Sino-Portuguese Houses (the old houses of Phuket)

                               Sino-Portuguese Houses (the old houses of Phuket)

Every people haven’t been to Phuket, the first thing when you arrived at Phuket that is walking alone in the old part of Phuket city and looking around to see the real nature of Phuket architecture that you never saw before ,this is the action that you could to do and the beautiful architecture will you back to flourish age of a century ago.

In the 18^th century, much of the is Phuket island’s tin mining was carried out by Hokkien, a Chinese who became the importance players in the old part of the city. In the late 19th century, Kor-Sim-Bi Na Ranong (a Sino-Thai businessman and Governor of Phuket at the time) was started to build the chinses settler with many characteristically hybrid mansions, combining arched window and doors with Doric. Many different style of building can be found in Dibuk road (Phuket old town road).

Some of the mansion and shop houses are gorgeously restored, with many still inhabited by local family (Thai-Chinese people in Phuket). 

Definitely in the 1930’s the architecture had developed into more European-Sion-Thai style but the attractive form of the earlier period were also incorporated.

In the early of 20^th century, under Governor Phraya Rassada Nupradit (who were took the first rubber tree from Malaysia to Phuket). The major of European mining companies were came to Phuket during the flourish age of tin mining because Phuket has a long associate with European (Portugal), Great Britain, Holland and France, and the major public infrastructure such as roads and canals was built.

Phraya Rassada Nupradit

But no one know exactly when the first building were built in this Sion – Portuguese style was constructed, but old photographs from reign of King Rama V (1853-1910) show that it was already well established from the then.