From Chiang Mai’s Black House to Luxury Hotel: The Story of 137 Pillars

In Chiang Mai's Wat Ket neighborhood, a once-derelict teak house known as Baan Dam, or the Black House, has been meticulously restored into the elegant 137 Pillars House hotel. The transformation began in 2002 when Harvard-trained architect Panida Wongphanlert discovered the overgrown structure, its dark teak blackened by time and neglect.

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Baan Dam – the Black House.

The house, built in the late 19th century, was originally part of the Borneo Company's operations in northern Siam, which sought teak for European markets. The compound's establishment was linked to Louis Leonowens, son of Anna Leonowens, the governess immortalized in "The King and I." His friendship with King Rama V facilitated the opening of northern forests to foreign timber companies.

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its weathered teak blackened by decades of linseed oil, neglect and tropical rain.

Louis Leonowens managed the Borneo Company's Chiang Mai operation, using the Baan Dam as its office. Later, in 1935, the compound was purchased by William Bain, the last manager of the Borneo Company. His son, Jack, named the house 137 Pillars, referencing an old Lanna tradition of counting a house's wealth by its pillars. Panida Wongphanlert's four-year restoration carefully distinguished between the original structure and new additions, preserving the historical integrity of the building and its surrounding estate, now shaded by ancient trees and filled with the sounds of local birds.

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But once she learned the history embedded in those titular pillars, keeping it to herself was not an option.