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Atrium House - Bangkok
Thailand Tatler - August, 1994
Inner Sanctum
By Chai Amornkul
A local expatriate couple creates a unique haven in the city's suburbs, with a distinctive combination of nature and classical furnishings. Thailand Tatler visits on of Bangkok's most luxurious private homes.
Moo Bahn Panya, tucked away on one of the upper sois of Sukhumvit road, is one of those private housing developments so exclusive that it has its own security force and maintenance services. The lovely green streets behind the formidable security barrier are quiet and peaceful, as though the hustle and bustle of the city are evenly barred from entry. One almost feels there should be a sign posted in front saying "please leave chaos with the security guard when you check in the front gate".
Hidden away in the recesses of a maze of houses which would have fazed the designers of Hampton Court, nestles a unique residence called Atrium House. From the exterior, the house is so low-key that it is almost invisible - a simple porte chochere and a wrought iron gate signal the main entrance to the residence.
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A little corner for favoured souvenirs.
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Pass through the portal and into the interior however, and one senses an immediate change, for the house has been unconventionally constructed around a large garden growing rich with trees and shrubs which provide a soft, green shade. Romantically, a colonnade sits around three sides of this garden. Underneath its picturesque arches, doors open directly from this tranquil inner garden onto the main living areas which are themselves all interconnected by French doors, providing at one an intimacy of scale yet a largess of space.
The exquisite library provides the ideal surroundings for bookworms.
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Above - This sumptuous dining room can seat over
40 guests.
Below - The lush foliage of the inner garden around which the house is built.
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At the far end of the drawing room, French doors lead to the formal dining room, a room where beige paneling, formal window draperies and a moulded ceiling lend a distinct European feel, and where more doors also lead out to the loggia and Jungle Garden. Designed for large scale entertaining, like the main drawing room, the dining room too is spacious - apparently it can easily seat 24 guests at one long table or up to 40 if round tables are used. The combined space of the drawing and dining rooms exceed 150 square metres, and the couple believe that the record number of guests they have entertained at any one time is 130, when they recently held a dinner dance.
Doors at the far end of the drawing room lead to the library, where heavily stacked bookshelves reach from floor to ceiling. In fact a ladder, its rungs comfortably clad in green leather and its top sliding safely around a fixed railing, has been installed to explore the crowded and intriguing-looking upper shelves.
Three guest bedrooms, each with its own connecting bathroom, are located on the ground floor. Each has doors opening directly onto the central garden. The first floor of the house contains a separate guest apartment, which the gentleman currently uses as his office. This unit consists of a reception room overlooking the central garden, a bedroom with its own private terrace, and a kitchen-cum-breakfast room. The first floor also contains a small sitting room, again with high bookshelves stacked with interesting reading, and a view over the courtyard.
Opening off this little sitting room, meanwhile, is the couple's master bedroom, with two full-height double windows looking out over the lush tranquility of the Jungle Garden on one side, and a klong which runs past the house on another side.
If Atrium House sounds like the perfect place to live, it is ironic that the couple have decided to put the property up for sale after spending many idyllic years here. "Our travels take us out of Thailand more and more, which, together with the fact that our children have all grown up and moved out, is why we have decided to give up the house", the couple say, adding that they are staying in Thailand but will be living in a smaller property now. Will it be as wonderful as Atrium House, we wonder?
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High archways and ceilings welcome in admiring visitors.
Plants and classical columns in the loggia add a Mediterranean flavour.
If Atrium House sounds like the perfect place to live, it is ironic that the couple have decided to put the property up for sale after spending many idyllic years here. "Our travels take us out of Thailand more and more, which, together with the fact that our children have all grown up and moved out, is why we have decided to give up the house", the couple say, adding that they are staying in Thailand but will be living in a smaller property now. Will it be as wonderful as Atrium House, we wonder?
Standing on 1.25 rai of land, Atrium House was built under the direction of Bertolini and Duane of Warwick according to the specifications of a Canadian couple who have lived in the house since its completion in 1985. The interior, designed by Prinya Design of Bangkok, displays an extensive use of paneling and Versailles parquet flooring, while the furnishings, like the exterior of the house embody low-key elegance.
Open, flowing space was taken into particular consideration in the design of the house, for the gentleman's profession requires that he entertain frequently. The main drawing room, for example, is over 14 metres long, containing two separate seating areas complete with separate sets of long sofas and armchairs gathered around low coffee tables. An exceptionally high ceiling lends an additional impression of space, plus an unexpected coolness - a delightfully pervasive feature of the house.
Wonderfully displayed on the tables and adorning the walls are a diversity of objects d'art, collected by the couple over a span of almost 50 years' residence in Bangkok. The couple possess a deep interest in this region and its various cultures. "We've been collecting antiques forever," they say.
The main drawing room's large-scale French doors open out onto a loggia and what the couple refer to as the Jungle Garden, another plant-filled area whose riot of greenery echoes the lush foliage in the central courtyard. It is easy to see that the loggia must be the perfect spot to breakfast in the morning, or sit and relax in the afternoon, or to entertain small gatherings in the evening. With its polished clay tile floor, soaring arches, chandeliers and ceiling fans, it possesses an elegance that harkens of a bygone era.
The spacious drawing room was designed with large-scale entertaining in mind
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