Phrae's 120-year-old teak houses to get a new lease of life

[Lite Beer]

Phrae's 120-year-old teak houses to get a new lease of life
SUPAT SAENGDOK,
CHUTIMA INKAM
THE SUNDAY NATION

PHRAE: -- TWO ABANDONED 120-year-old teakwood houses, also known as Missionary Houses, in Phrae's Muang district will soon be transformed into an educational museum and a medical museum.

The US consul-general in Chiang Mai, Michael Heath, and a team recently visited these houses located within the compounds of Phrae Non-formal Education Centre and Phrae Christian Hospital.

Heath said the trip was to follow up with the teakwood house preservation in Phrae and to follow up on the history of American missionaries who devoted their work to Phrae and Thailand in general, as well as seeing what the US could do to help.

The US consul-general was scheduled to revisit the houses to check on the progress of repair work within the hospital compound, which the team was told would cost Bt15 million. As for the other house in the education centre compound, the Teakwood House Conservation Group said they would turn it into an educational museum. The US team would come back in October to follow up on the progress, he added.

Centre director Sanit Karnjanapradit, local academic Wuttikrai Phathong, and Local Architecture Conservation of Phrae president Chinnaworn Chompoopun and others welcomed the US group and told them about the old buildings' history.

The houses, which are now in various stages of decay, were built for American missionaries who came to promote education, religious and medical knowledge in Phrae. The first in the centre's compound was for missionaries working in the field of education, while the other in the hospital compound was for missionaries working in the field of medicine.

The Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) had either received or purchased the land from the then Phrae ruler for three buildings - Phrae Christian Hospital, Charoenrasdr School and Phrae Christian Church.

Phrae shifted from being a colonial city under Siam to being part of Thailand and then World War II erupted. American missionaries made their escape from the conflict areas resulting in loss of land ownership documents. Accordingly, the lands were handed over to the state.

The CCT later obtained the Treasury Department's permission to use the more-than-a-century-old house in the hospital compound, while the Phrae Informal Education Centre, together with Phrae Provincial Agricultural Extension Office, got permission to utilise the building in Charoenrasdr School.

Wuttikrai said the house within hospital compound had seriously deteriorated and likely to collapse within two years. Plans to renovate the place had been proposed five years ago, but there were obstacles, including shortage of money.

He urged the US Consulate or the CCT to sponsor the historic houses' restoration and possibly transform them into an educational museum and medical museum. He said the hospital stored a vast quantity of medical supplies and equipment more than hundred years old, as well as valuable photographs such as one of Dr William Briggs, founder of Phrae Christian Hospital.

A plan to establish a foundation to raise donation money for this special campaign would require an initial funding of Bt300,000, but they had saved only Bt10,000 so far.

In a phone interview with The Nation, Wuttikrai disclosed that the teakwood house renovation needed Bt20 million in total, but so far they had not yet raised that amount from all sectors and other interested parties.

Wuttikrai said the project had resulted from cooperation between the civil society in Phrae, the Active Generation of Phrae Family, and the Church of Christ.

They needed to start an organisation to reveal the progress and organise events like selling photographs for elementary funding, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Phraes-120-year-old-teak-houses-to-get-a-new-lease-30267747.html

-- The Nation 2015-08-30

[slipperylobster]

well done..usa

[TPI]

As I live in the town it looks as if I'll have to spend some time searching for these houses, Phrae isn't really big on "self promotion"!!

[Suradit69]

Not sure if this is one of the houses in question, but probably similar. It is located in Phrae and was a part of the Church of Christ in Thailand mission & was slated for restoration intended to take place from 2009-2011.

http://www.seameo-spafa.org/archaeology_detail.php?tid=323

The house is estimated to be 100 years old, and its architectural style is different from other old buildings in the province; it was built in an American colonial style mixed with local traditional style. It is believed that the house was constructed by Chinese builders as there were Chinese writings on many pieces of timbers. The Director of the Phrae Christian Hospital requested SPAFA to help develop a conservation plan to restore the house, and to turn it into a museum.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Suradit69

[Usernames]

Not sure if this is one of the houses in question, but probably similar. It is located in Phrae and was a part of the Church of Christ in Thailand mission & was slated for restoration intended to take place from 2009-2011.

http://www.seameo-spafa.org/archaeology_detail.php?tid=323

The house is estimated to be 100 years old, and its architectural style is different from other old buildings in the province; it was built in an American colonial style mixed with local traditional style. It is believed that the house was constructed by Chinese builders as there were Chinese writings on many pieces of timbers. The Director of the Phrae Christian Hospital requested SPAFA to help develop a conservation plan to restore the house, and to turn it into a museum.

The Seameo Spafa link should lead to lots of info on this. They put out a book on historic wooden houses in Phrae back in 2011. In it the missionary house's schematics and restoration proposals are discussed and pictured in detail. Seameo Spafa is a small organization with a limited budget but a wonderful team of dedicated people that really battles against the odds to try and preserve Thailand's cultural heritage.

[MaxYakov]

In attempting to ID the house, I ran across this Cronik Thailands - Siam um 1900-1908 by Alois Payer website that has many

historic, circa turn of the century images including a grand Christian cathedral (Assumptio-Kathedrale) in Bangkok.

[NeilSA1]

The Americans are being requested to assist financially, yet have no 'claim' over the property which once was legally theirs.

Loss of land ownership documents (in WWII) = loss of land ownership.

"American missionaries made their escape from the conflict areas resulting in loss of land ownership documents. Accordingly, the lands were handed over to the state."
​

...and btw, I hope that these houses can be restored, I just feel that it is ironic that America has been approached for financing these renovations.

Edited August 30, 2015 by NeilSA1

[ourmanflint]

Good news, Phrae is a lovely old fashioned kinda town, my Thai family is from there. Some very beautiful old buildings around town.

[Jimbob1]

The Americans are being requested to assist financially, yet have no 'claim' over the property which once was legally theirs.

Loss of land ownership documents (in WWII) = loss of land ownership.

"American missionaries made their escape from the conflict areas resulting in loss of land ownership documents. Accordingly, the lands were handed over to the state."

​

...and btw, I hope that these houses can be restored, I just feel that it is ironic that America has been approached for financing these renovations.

A plan to establish a foundation to raise donation money for this special campaign would require an initial funding of Bt300,000, but they had saved only Bt10,000 so far.

They are chipping in 10K ... hand out for 20 Million ... why doesn't that surprise me ...

Then you can bet they will charge Farang 10X the cost a Thai would pay for admission .. ...

[Suradit69]

The Americans are being requested to assist financially, yet have no 'claim' over the property which once was legally theirs.

Loss of land ownership documents (in WWII) = loss of land ownership.

"American missionaries made their escape from the conflict areas resulting in loss of land ownership documents. Accordingly, the lands were handed over to the state."

​

...and btw, I hope that these houses can be restored, I just feel that it is ironic that America has been approached for financing these renovations.

"I just feel that it is ironic that America has been approached for financing these renovations. "

America financed a lot of the "renovations" in post war Europe, including Germany, as well as in Japan. I doubt that restoration of a few houses that have a historical connection to the American presence in Thailand a century ago is all that ironic by comparison.

Edited August 31, 2015 by Suradit69

[metisdead]

A nonsense speculation post has been removed.