Thewawes Palace

What it is

Devavesm Palace is a neoclassical riverside palace on Samsen Road that today belongs to the Bank of Thailand and is not on the Bank's list of places the public may book. King Vajiravudh, Rama VI, had it built in B.E. 2457, 1914, for Prince Devawongse Varopakarn, on a plot of 24 rai 3 ngan 78 square wa beside the Chao Phraya that King Chulalongkorn had granted, immediately north of Bang Khun Phrom Palace and south of Thewet Palace. It was the family seat of the Devakul line. Construction of the main residence was finished in B.E. 2461, 1918. Devavesm Palace has been registered as a Thai ancient monument since 1 February B.E. 2530, 1987, under registration number 0000027. A visitor arriving at Samsen Road today reaches a central bank's compound, and the palace is read from outside or from the river rather than walked through.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

What's inside

The main residence, Tamnak Yai, was designed and its construction supervised by the British architect Edward Healey: three European storeys facing the Chao Phraya, in neoclassical dress, with Ionic columns at the entrance porch and Corinthian columns on the upper wall. Eight subsidiary buildings were designed by the Italian architect Emilio Giovanni Gollo, who also oversaw construction of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall. Of those eight, five survive: Tamnak Yai, the Mom Lamai house, the Mom Chan house, the Mom Pun building and the riverside houseboat. Thai Wikipedia records that the Bank of Thailand began restoring the ancient monuments at Devavesm Palace in B.E. 2538, 1995, that the houseboat and Tamnak Yai were finished and opened as a museum with a room on the biographies of significant figures and a room on the academic architectural conservation of Bang Khun Phrom and Devavesm palaces, and that Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided at the opening in December B.E. 2547, 2004. The Bank's current visiting pages list guided tours of Bang Khun Phrom Palace only, and name no Devavesm tour. Both statements are printed here as they stand.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

How long to spend

Allow twenty-five minutes for Devavesm Palace as a stop in its own right. That is time to walk the Samsen Road frontage, cross to the Bank of Thailand Learning Centre side and read the river elevation, which is the face the architect composed. Anyone who books the free Bang Khun Phrom Palace tour on the same compound should add the hour that the Bank states each tour round takes, plus the registration time before it, which turns the visit into a half-morning rather than a stop.

Checked 2026-08-25

Season and crowds

Come at a weekend if the point is to get inside the compound rather than look at it from Samsen Road. The Bank of Thailand states that Bang Khun Phrom Palace, the neighbour immediately to the south, is open for visits every Saturday and Sunday in three rounds a day, at 11.00, 13.30 and 15.00, forty people to a round, about an hour each, free of charge, with online booking opening seven days before the chosen date. The Bank of Thailand Learning Centre as a whole opens Tuesday to Sunday and closes on Mondays and on financial institution holidays; within it the Bank of Thailand Museum runs 09.30 to 16.30 and the Prince Vivadhanajaya Library 09.30 to 20.00 at no charge. No visiting day or time is published for Devavesm Palace itself.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

Tickets

No admission is recorded for Devavesm Palace, because the Bank of Thailand publishes no ticket, booking form or visiting time for the palace itself. What was checked: the Bank of Thailand's learning centre page, the Bank's frequently asked questions on the learning centre, and the visit page of the learning centre's own site. What the Bank does publish is free of charge: the Bang Khun Phrom Palace tour rounds carry no fee, the Prince Vivadhanajaya Library carries no fee, and the co-working reading areas on levels one to three carry no fee, while the Econ Connect and Idea Box rooms on level three do charge and learning-centre membership costs 1,500 baht a year. Group visits are arranged on 02-356-7766, option 2.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

Getting there

Devavesm Palace stands within the Bank of Thailand compound at 273 Samsen Road, Wat Sam Phraya subdistrict, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200, by the foot of the Rama VIII Bridge. The Bank of Thailand Learning Centre lists four bus stops serving the address, in front of and opposite the Bank and opposite Wat Sam Phraya, worked by routes including 3, 9, air-conditioned 9, 30, 32, 33, 43, 49, 53, 64, 65, 516 and 524 depending on the stop. By water there are two landings: Thewet pier, served by the orange, green and yellow flag Chao Phraya express boats and by the cross-river ferry, and Wat Sam Phraya pier, served by the unflagged local boat. The river approach is the one that shows the palace as it was meant to be seen.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

What to watch out for

Do not travel to Samsen Road expecting to book Devavesm Palace: the palace is the central bank's working premises and the Bank publishes no visit for it. The tour that can be booked is of Bang Khun Phrom Palace next door, and it has conditions worth reading before setting out. Booking opens only seven days ahead of the chosen date and each round takes forty people, so a same-week decision may find nothing left. On the day, visitors must register at the meeting point beside the museum shop on level one of the Bank of Thailand Learning Centre rather than at any palace gate. Drivers get four hours free in the learning centre car park, stamped at the registration desk, after which the charge is 20 baht an hour for a car and 10 baht an hour for a motorcycle. The whole learning centre closes on Mondays and on financial institution holidays, which are not the same as general public holidays.

Checked 2026-08-25 · Source

Photography

The photograph of Devavesm Palace is taken from the water, not from Samsen Road. Edward Healey composed the main residence to face the Chao Phraya, and the road side sits behind a compound wall belonging to a central bank, so a street-level attempt yields a wall and a gate. A Chao Phraya express boat between Thewet and Phra Athit gives the full three-storey elevation, and the Rama VIII Bridge stands in the frame from most angles, which is either the shot or the thing to compose out of it. The riverside ground of the Bank of Thailand Learning Centre is the one place on land that gives the palaces at a usable distance, and it is open on the centre's own days. Do not photograph security staff, gates or entry procedures anywhere on a central bank's compound.

Checked 2026-08-25

Where it is

• 1 hour

  2 min walk · เขตพระนคร

  Bang Khun Phrom palace

  • Must see · Heritage site
  • Historic monument
• 1 hr 30 min

  3 min walk · เขตพระนคร

  Bank of Thailand Museum

  • High
  • Museum
• 30 min

  6 min walk · เขตพระนคร

  Wat Intharawihan

  • Must see · Heritage site
  • Place of worship

External links

• Official site
• View on Wikidata