Memory, Heritage and Nostalgia The Rama VI House

Abstract

This study examines the intersection of memory, heritage, and architecture in Bangkok through the lens of Rama VI era houses, which emerged during a pivotal period of cultural transformation in Thailand. The narrative is grounded in the author's personal connection to a childhood home on Phaya Thai Road—an emotionally resonant site of family history that exemplifies how heritage shapes identity. The research redefines heritage not merely as a static inheritance from ancestors, but as an evolving narrative integral to generational identity and collective memory.

Focusing on the architectural developments during the reign of King Rama VI—characterized by a hybridization of traditional Thai and Western styles—the study situates these structures within their socio-political context. It explores how Rama VI houses manifest in contemporary Bangkok as surviving, borrowed, or re-created memories, and what these expressions reveal about the broader dynamics of history, memory, and heritage amid rapid urbanization.

The study pursues three key objectives: to identify the architectural characteristics of Rama VI houses; to locate surviving, repurposed, or reconstructed examples; and to examine their symbolic roles in articulating an idealized image of Bangkok’s past. Ethnographic case studies highlight how domestic architecture becomes a site of both personal nostalgia and institutionalized memory.

Ultimately, this research contributes to critical discourse on urban heritage, nostalgia, and cultural continuity. It demonstrates how memory and built form intersect to resist the homogenizing forces of modernization, while offering insight into the paradox of heritage as both a record of loss and a tool of reinvention in contemporary Bangkok.

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