Page 17 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Phuket

Phuket Town ❮❮ 15

Phuket
China Inn Café
7 0
and Restaurant
Philatelic Museum
MAP P5 • Montri Road • 07621 1020 MAP P5 • 20 Thalang Road • 07635
• Open 9:30am–5:30pm Tue–Sat 6239 • Open 11am–5pm Mon–Sat
Also known as the Post Office Exquisite wooden doors, Chinese
Museum, this 20th-century build ing lanterns, and tiled floors decorate
has displays detailing the history of the entrance of this classic Sino-
the Thai postal ser vice. Portuguese-style house. The interior
showcases a wonderful collection
Phuket Provincial Hall
8 of old Chinese arti facts, while the
highly regarded dining space is set
MAP Q4 • Narisorn Road
• 07635 4875 • Open 9am–5pm daily in the backyard.
The Provincial Hall was built in the
early 1910s. It origi nally featured 99
doors and no windows, and is said
to be the first reinforced concrete
building in Thailand.
THAI Airways Office
9
MAP P5 • 78 Ranong Road
• 07636 0444 • Open 8am–5pm daily
The airline bought this mansion in
1947. The white, two-story building
continues to serve as the THAI
Airways Office in Phuket Town. It is
believed to have been built in 1922. Entrance to the China Inn Café
ARCHITECTURAL LEGACY
During the tin boom of the late 19th and early TOP 10
20th centuries, countless Chinese immigrants CHARACTERISTICS OF
arrived on Phuket seeking to capitalize on the SINO-PORTUGUESE
island’s new-found economic opportunities. ARCHITECTURAL
STYLE
The most successful tin barons built gorgeous
colonial-style mansions. The archi tec tural 1 Romanesque arched
style, known as Sino-Portuguese, was derived colonnades (porticoes)
from early European settlements. Examples 2 Inner courtyards
abound in Phuket Town, parti cularly the shop (airwells)
houses and mansions on Dibuk, Thalang, Phang 3 Exterior windows with
Nga, Rassada, Yaowarat, and Phuket roads. Romanesque arches
and shutters
4 Double doors and
double shutters
5 Terracotta tiled roofs
6 Tiled floors in
ornate patterns
7 Victorian
ornamentation
8 Chinese signage
9 Ornamental
wrought-iron gates
These Romanesque arched windows are a typical 10 Eaves decorated
element of the Sino-Portuguese architectural style. with ceramic shards

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