Jim Thompson, the most famous American in Thailand
Jim Thomson house (RICI photo / Shutterstock.com)
The name of Jim Thompson is inseparable from Thai silk. His name commands a lot of respect from the Thai. Thompson was a colorful figure: an ex-architect, retired army officer, part-time spy, silk merchant, and collector of antiques. He is easily the most famous American in Thailand.
James HW Thompson was born on March 21, 1906 in Greenville, Delaware in the USA. Jim was the youngest in a family of five children of Hendrik and Mary Thompson. His father was a textile manufacturer, his mother was the daughter of James Harrison Wilson, a well-known American Civil War general.
Thai Silk Company Ltd.
Jim Thompson moved to Thailand in 1945. He became head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a forerunner of today's CIA. The Thai silk industry was completely at a standstill at that time. In 1948 he founded the Thai Silk Company Ltd. with which he breathed new life into the languishing industry.
Thompson's development of the Thai silk industry is often cited as one of the great success stories of post-war Asia. Even now you can still find shops with Thai silk under the name Jim Thompson everywhere, such as in Siam Paragon in Bangkok.
Jim Thompson became a myth when he disappeared on Easter Sunday in 1967 during his holiday. He took a walk in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. His disappearance has always remained a mystery, and his body has never been found. The rumors range from suicide, to an accident or a heart attack. Some claim that the CIA was involved in his sudden and mysterious disappearance.
(Sorbis/Shutterstock.com)
Collector of antiques
After arriving in Thailand, Jim started collecting antiques. Due to the size of his collection, he was looking for a suitable place to exhibit his art treasures. In 1958, he started to realize his plan. The construction of a museum annex house for his unique collection.
For the construction he used six antique teak Thai houses from Ban Khrua and Ayutthaya. These were dismantled and moved to the current location in Bangkok, opposite the Bangkrua district, where the silk weavers who worked for him were once located. His collection was housed in the various rooms in the house, such as:
- Chinese blue and white Ming pieces
- Cambodian stone figures
- Victorian chandeliers
- Five colored Bencharong
- Antique Thai stone carvings
- Burmese statues
- a dining table once used by King Rama V of Thailand.
It took almost a year to realize his dream. His collection, which spans fourteen centuries, is largely as it was when he mysteriously disappeared in 1967. Some objects in his collection are very rare, such as the headless but elegant 7th-century Dvaravati Buddha and a 17th-century teak Buddha from Ayutthaya. When the Jim Thompson House was completed in 1959, the international press described it as "one of the wonders of the East."
To this day, Jim Thompson's house/museum is one of the major tourist attractions in Bangkok.
Opening hours: 09:00-17:00 (last tour at 17:00).
Location: Soi Kasemsan 2, opposite the National Stadium on Rama I Road.
BTS: Get off at National Stadium station.
Address: 6/1 Soi Kasemsan 2, Rama 1 road.
Phone : +66 (0) 2 216 7368
Route description: Take Exit 1 from the BTS National Stadium Station, turn right onto Soi Kasemsan 2 and walk all the way to the end. You will find the museum on the left.
I have been to the Jim Thompson House several times and I must say it is beautiful, an oasis of calm in the middle of Bangkok.
And maybe I'm a nag, but when I walk through the "museum" I often think of all those missing statues in old temples. But perhaps these missing images have been saved from destruction in this way.
There are also a few more of these kind of museum houses in Bangkok, such as the “Kamthieng House” or “Suan Phakkad Palace” or “Prasart House”
Chang Noi
I once read that the Thompson house is the most visited museum in all of Thailand, and that is a house of a farang.
If I have guests, it is always worth a regular visit, although I do stay by the pond to enjoy the wonderful 'oasis' of tranquility in the middle of vibrant and turbulent Bangkok. After all, I have visited the house many times, beautiful, indeed! A passenger boat regularly passes on the Saen Saeb klong on its way to Rachadamnoen avenue, a trip that I also recommend to everyone.
Nice article, here my girlfriend worked as an English Tourguide, so you see!
A wonderful place to escape from the (otherwise wonderful) craziness of Bangkok, the canal boat now stops in front of the door.
My photo impression of the house : http://www.flickr.com/photos/miek37/tags/jimthomsonhouse/
I remember well when we were there for the first time years ago, my wife immediately fell in love with the Thai silk.
Since we have a shop and also sell a lot of stuff from Thailand and surrounding countries, I was very interested in 1 thing: How do I recognize fake silk from real silk?
I still use the answer: You take a piece of silk and set it on fire, if it melts then it has synthetic stuff in it, if it turns to ash, then it's silk.
At first glance, fake and real are almost indistinguishable.
I still come there with my wife, because as I said she fell in love with it…..
If the smoke smells like burnt hair, and that lump of ash is easy to crumble, you know for sure that you are dealing with wool or silk, they are natural 'protein fibers'
Been coming to Thailand and Bangkok for 8 years now and always go to JT-House.
I am a lover of Buddhist Art, Thai and Khmer, and then JT is a no-brainer. So many beautiful things there!
But in addition, JT has simply created a beautiful environment by compiling his House/Museum from various other Houses.
The products of the JT Thai-Silk company are not the cheapest, but experience has taught me that it is very good, both in quality and in design
In short, for me, the JT House, just like the Museum for Siam, is highly recommended!
Jim Thompson had an even larger collection of Thai statues. However, because at some point the Thai government suddenly decided that those images were actually Thai property, he was forced to hand in the Thai images. Thompson was very angry about this because he had bought them from Thai traders. That is why almost exclusively the images from other countries such as Burma remained in the house.
Remarkably enough, the design of the house is actually typically Western. The pavilions with entrance and dining room, as well as the pavilion with the first bedrooms, are attached to the living room. This allows you to walk from one room to another.
That does not happen with classic Thai homes. There, the different pavilions are all separate from each other, connected by a wooden terrace. As happens here with the kitchen and extra guest room.
The same can be seen in Thompson's design for Connie Mangskau's house.
Thompson was a romantic who watched the Westernization of Bangkok take place with dismay. For a long time he also stuck to living without air conditioning, although it had long since been introduced in the somewhat larger houses.
Incidentally, Thompson was unable to pay for the house from his income from the business. He was not a wealthy man. He was the leading man of the company, but not the owner.
The construction of the house was paid for from the inheritance he received on the death of his brother.
Nice article, only the average Thai knows nothing about the man himself, at most people know the brand 😉
Not only the Jim Thompson house is worth a visit. But the Jim Thompson Farm is also a nice place to visit. It is only open for a short period of time each year.
https://jimthompsonfarm.com