Bauhaus & Art Deco Thailand: Karl Siegfried Döhring

Share

Karl Siegfried Döhring (1879 – 1941) was a German architect, resident in Thailand, who designed a number of buildings with Art Deco or Bauhaus influence. I’ve long admired the palace he designed for King Chulalongkorn in Petchaburi, built between 1910 and 1916 in the Art Deco style. Sun coming through stained glass, putti with cornucopia, curved staircases and exquisite tiling make it wonderful to visit. You feel you’ve walked into turn-of-the-century Vienna transported to the tropics.

Phra Ram Ratchaniwet Palace in Petchaburi, architect Karl Siegfried Döhring 1910-1916

Phra Ram Ratchaniwet Palace in Petchaburi, architect Karl Siegfried Döhring 1910-1916

Until today I didn’t know he had also designed the former Thonburi railway station, sometimes called Bangkok Noi station, from which I used to take the train on visa runs south, every three months in 1985-6. It was always a hike to get to, but pleasant taking a ferry across the Chao Phraya early in the morning. The train to Malaysia was grimy and rackety and took forever. Vendors came down the aisles selling chicken wrapped in greaseproof paper, rice dishes and desserts wrapped in banana leaves. My destination was usually Penang, so there was Indian curry and sea air in the offing. I never paid the Bangkok Noi station any heed then, but I do now.

Former Bangkok Noi Railway Station, designed by Karl Siegfried Döhring in 1900.

Former Bangkok Noi Railway Station, designed by Karl Siegfried Döhring in 1900.

Döhring was born in Cologne and died in Darmstadt. He worked from 1906 for the Siamese Royal State Railways. Besides Bangkok Noi station, he designed other railway buildings around the country – Phitsanulok, Phichit, Phichai, Uttaradit and Sawankhalok. One day I shall have to do a tour and have a look at them. They have in common a mix of European and Siamese tropical influence that is hard to describe but immediately recognisable.

Clean lines and bricky front restored.

Clean lines and bricky front restored.

The Bangkok Noi station originally served Petchaburi and only later the southern line to Hat Yai and onwards to Malaysia. The Allies bombed the original building during the Second World War, when it was used as a Japanese logistics base. It was rebuilt according to the original plan and reopened in 1950. What is remarkable are the clean, spare lines which anticipate by twenty years the Bauhaus signature style. The Deutscher Werkbund was already emphasising practicality and severe industrial lines in advance of the Bauhaus. This style of architecture dates from the end of the First World War until the rise of the Nazis in 1933. Döhring’s work is interestingly astraddle the two styles of his day – Art Deco and the Werkbund’s geometric expressionism. Bangkok Noi station is a good example of the latter.

Minimalist detail, ornament abjured.

Minimalist detail, ornament abjured.

The station was decommissioned in 2003. It sits on a spit of land at the junction of Bangkok Noi canal and the Chao Phraya River, former site of the Rear Palace (วังหลัง wang lang), where the vice-regent lived. The last person to hold this post was Prince Anurak Devesh, a nephew of King Rama I, until his death in 1806. You can still see remains of the foundations of his former palace behind the station.

Foundations of the Wang Lang Palace, dating from the Rattanakosin period, 1700s.

Foundations of the Wang Lang Palace, dating from the Rattanakosin period, 1700s.

The Bangkok Noi station is now a museum and the spit of land has been transformed into one of those reverential parks – all marble and topiary – the Thais go in for. In a city where shade is at a premium, such parks are like microwaved wedding cakes. This one has a fine pagoda commemorating King Chulalongkorn. The contrast between Siamese glitter and gold and the austere Germanic building behind is food for thought. There’s a boat stop on the express line and an S&P coffee shop.

Pagoda commemorating King Chulalongkorn.

Pagoda commemorating King Chulalongkorn.

Döhring’s Petchaburi palace for King Chulalongkorn is in a different style. Curvaceous, with mansard roofs and fine detail, it creaks as you walk through it in bare feet on the polished parquet. Siamese royalty were in thrall to the trappings of European modernism. I don’t know how much of the detail Döhring was responsible for, or who the craftsmen were who carried it out. Many of the designs for the ceramic work, the spacious cupola and courtyard as well as the sweeping staircase have a Viennese elegance.

Exquisite glazed tiling, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Exquisite glazed tiling, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Fountain in the courtyard, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Fountain in the courtyard, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Another putto, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Another putto, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

A portrait of Karl Siegfried Döhring, in the palace he designed in Patchaburi.

A portrait of Karl Siegfried Döhring, in the palace he designed in Petchaburi.

Staircase with Viennese (Koloman Moser) influence, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

Staircase with Viennese (Koloman Moser) influence, Ban Puen Palace, Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

A view from the river: Döhring's railway station sandwiched between the King Chulalongkorn pagoda and buildings of Siriraj Hospital.

A view from the river: Döhring’s railway station sandwiched between the King Chulalongkorn pagoda and buildings of Siriraj Hospital.

Here and there in Bangkok and throughout the Kingdom are fine examples of Portuguese Tropical, Art Deco, Bauhaus and what I like to call Seaside Ice-cream Modernism. Sadly, a number of the old buildings along the riverfront and elsewhere are in serious need of restoration. There is also a good deal of Corinthian kitsch. Karl Siegfried Döhring’s contribution to Thailand’s architecture ought to be better celebrated and detached somewhat from the royal icing so that its architectural lines can be clearly seen.

An Art Deco putto in the Ban Puen Palace in Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

An Art Deco putto in the Ban Puen Palace in Petchaburi, 1910-1916.

 

 

Share

Bangkok Brutalism: Grand Postal Building

Share
Fascist brutalism, Grand Postal Building Bangkok, 1940

Fascist brutalism, Grand Postal Building Bangkok, 1940

I popped over to the Central Post Office on Charoen Krung because somebody said it had had a facelift. It’s now called the Grand Postal Building. It’s the site of the first post office in Thailand, established in 1883, on what used to be called New Road, the first paved road in the city.

The pink garudas on the corners of the Grand Postal Building, Bangkok

The pink Garudas on the corners of the Grand Postal Building, Bangkok

The Grand Postal Building is a splendid example of brutalist architecture given a scrub and a lick of paint. The imposing edifice dates from 1940 and its architects were Miw Jitrasen Aphaiwong and Phrasarot Ratnanimman. Thailand was going through a phase of influence from German and Italian architects. There is something distinctly Fascist about the style. Mussolini encouraged the monumental, echoing his own aggrandisement and his revival of nationalist values. Examples of fascist brutalism can be seen in parts of Rome, especially in the EUR district. It was a short-lived style. Monumental, heavy, foursquare, with lots of muscular athletes: these are its trademarks.

A Garuda overseeing the Central Post Office building in Bangkok

The man-bird Garuda overseeing the Central Post Office building in Bangkok

The Khana Ratsadon คณะราษฎร or People’s Party was in power in Siam/Thailand at the time, having wrested the country from absolute monarchy in 1932. Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram was Prime Minister and virtual military dictator from 1938 to 1944 and 1948 to 1957. It was an architecture seeking to marry national identity and European influence. A number of up and coming Thai architects of the day had been trained in Germany and Italy.

Workers of Christiani & Nielsen in front of the Democracy Monument in 1940

Workers of Christiani & Nielsen in front of the Democracy Monument in 1940

Also in 1940, Christiani & Nielsen (Thai) Public Company Limited completed construction of the Democracy Monument. In 1941 Phibun had the Victory Monument erected to commemorate battles with the French in Cambodia and Laos. It was all about shaping the modern state with the twin pillars of democracy and victory.

The Reichchancellory in Berlin, 1930s

The Reichchancellory in Berlin, 1930s

I used to head down to the Central Postal Office late in the evening in the 1980s. At the time it was run by the Communications Authority of Thailand. The international phone exchange was open until midnight, or perhaps all night. There was often an interesting flora and fauna around the telephone booths. You had to book your call in advance and were directed to a booth. When time was up the operator would interrupt before cutting you off. It didn’t come cheap. I didn’t at all notice the architectural distinction of the building then. It was usually dark, swimming in that sombre fug that obscured Charoen Krung day and night.

Old-style Siamese letterbox

Old-style Siamese letterbox

But now I love it. What you see is what you get. The grey greenish stone is pointed in white. The windows recessed, lacking adornment. The ground floor has a blockhaus look. Everything tells you the army’s in charge, or the army’s proxies. The boys are back in town and nobody’s going to mess with them. It was a short-lived style, as I said.

DSC_4180

Another old Siamese postbox, courtesy of W. T. Allen, London

Fine ironmongery on the main doors of the Central Post Office

Fine ironmongery on the main doors of the Central Post Office

The Bangkok Central Post Office in 1940

The Bangkok Central Post Office in 1940

Share

Les rencontres d’Arles (3): Actes Sud

Share

P1050199

Nothing more disappointing than finding one of your favourite bookshops has gone. This was the case for me with The Village Voice in Paris. I hadn’t been in the city for a couple of years. It was a shock to find the finest English-language bookshop closed for business. Odile Hellier was always very welcoming. Several decades ago and in another century, she effected an introduction to Edmund White, one of my favourite writers. The readings by the likes of Richard Ford and Raymond Carver on the mezzanine floor were always packed. You could pick up and browse the little magazines when you didn’t have the money to buy them. I was living in Asia for most of the eighties and nineties, and so it was a pit stop for books before boarding the plane.

Actes Sud bookshop and publishing house on the Place Nina-Berberova, Arles

Actes Sud bookshop and publishing house on the Place Nina-Berberova, Arles

Actes Sud in Arles seems to be thriving – but you never know. It’s a French-language bookshop which was particularly bustling during the photography festival. It must be the only bookshop in the world with a Tauromachie section – bullfighting. In the warren of books you will also find a North African hammam, with women-, men-only and “mixed couple” hours and days, serving mint tea. There are two cinemas showing art-house films. The documentary Finding Vivian Meier was featured last week. Out on the pavement facing the Rhône there’s the usual cafe that becomes a restaurant at meal times.

DSC_3607

But it’s also a publishing house, one of the few outside Paris with clout and savvy. They publish many Anglophone writers in translation and a healthy stable of home-grown talent – Laurent Gaudé (Prix Goncourt 2004), the Irish writer John Banville, as well as more abstruse intellectual journals.

A major new addition to Arles is the Fondation Vincent van Gogh which opened its doors earlier this year. Van Gogh painted some of his best known canvases in and around Arles. The ‘Yellow House’ in particular can still be visited on the Place Lamartine.

Van Gogh, The Yellow House, 1888

Van Gogh, The Yellow House, 1888

The exhibition space feels a bit cramped at times. It is formed by joining two old houses via a striking glass-roofed atrium. The lifts, staircases, wheelchair access, white cube rooms with their security guards feel crammed in. There’s a wonderful view of the Arles roofscape, which hasn’t much changed from Vincent’s time, from the flat roof terrace.

New roof, old roof, Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles

New roof, old roof, Fondation Vincent van Gogh, Arles

The exhibition places van Gogh’s work in a number of contexts – Northern European realism, Impressionism, Japanese prints. Van Gogh’s approach to colour developed quickly under the sun. The other art tends to be upstaged by the mad master’s vivacity. I really liked Camille Corot’s Un Chemin dans les Bois de St. Cloud, 1862, because it reminded me of a walk there in 1979-80. Same dark woods, forest light, dank underfoot.

Van Gogh’s delicate sketch in oils, Impasse des Deux Frères, 1887, with its mobile puppet theatre and the wings of the Moulin des Trois Frères in the background – also recalled old Montmartre days. French flags flying. Creamy white light. Trees skeletal. Snow underfoot.

Van Gogh, Impasse des Deux Freres

Van Gogh, Impasse des Deux Frères, 1887

It’s a pity the gift shop is full of baubles and tchotchkes – the yellow house on your iPad cover. An iPhone case with a detached ear printed on it gave me some pause. Like coffee shops the world over, museum shops are more and more homogenised tat. Restaurants and language have gone that way too, with the over-use of formulaic statements and fashion food dressed up as gourmet – a chiffonade of this, a smear of that. Have a nice day!

Arles rooftops

Arles rooftops

And then out into the bright air by the Rhône. The streets were full of designer wear and the clopping of good shoes on cobbles. People with ID tags round their necks. The lovely stone.

Le contre-jour, Arles

Le contre-jour, Arles


Street art, Arles 2014

Street art, Arles 2014

 

Share