Amazing Heritage Mansions in Old Phuket Town
If old Sino-Portuguese Mansions in Old Phuket Town fascinate you, you are in for a treat. There is more to Phuket than just the well-known Thalang Road, where everyone goes on a Phuket exploration. Yes, it’s a nice walk and a must-do, but if you, too, have a passion for old houses, you might want to explore a bit further, where some fabulous mansions are still standing and often hidden.
When standing in front of these beautiful mansions, it’s so easy to imagine how Phuket was a hundred years ago. Better enjoy them now because sooner or later, someone will buy them and refurbish them with more or less respect for their original ‘soul’. Let us show them to you while some are still in their original condition. (These are ‘mansions’ or ‘Ang-Mor-Lao’, not shophouses).
Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion (now Blue Elephant Phuket)
Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion is a magnificent building in a vast garden, built around 1903 to be the governor’s house. For a very long time, it was for many visitors a fascinating, abandoned and mysterious house in Phuket Town. For many years, there were rumours of turning Phra Pitak Chinpracha into a hotel, until it was finally renovated to host the Blue Elephant Restaurant, originally from Bangkok.
Blue Elephant Phuket is a high-end Thai restaurant built in a renovated Thai house set in an immense garden in Old Phuket Town. Pracha Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion is a fantastic old mansion that used to be a governor’s house, but was abandoned for a long time.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 96, Krabi, Tambon Talat Nuea, Amphoe Mueang Phuket, Phuket 83000
Open: 11.30 am – 10.30 pm
Phone: 076 354 355
Built: 1903
Kiew Kai Ka Restaurant
This restaurant is now closed.
Kiew Kai Ka was a Thai Restaurant at the intersection of Tung Ka Road and Yaowarat Road. This lovely mansion was, for a long time, an expensive antique shop called ‘Private Collection’.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 265 Yaowarat Rd, Tambon Talat Nuea, Amphoe Mueang Phuket, Chang Wat Phuket 83000
Phone: 076 609266
Kanok Kwa House (Endless Summer Coffee Shop)
This boutique is now closed.
This beautiful Sino-Portuguese house is now a coffee shop as well as a fashion boutique. It is easy to find and great for your photos and as an Instagram background. It used to be a Kindergarten at the intersection of Dibuk Road and Yaowarat Road.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 175 Yaowarat Rd, Tambon Talat Nuea, Amphoe Mueang Phuket, Chang Wat Phuket 83000
Open: 10 am – 7 pm
Phone: 099 029 8067
Luang Amnart Nararak Mansion (Dibuk Mansion)
Luang Amnart Nararak Mansion is a fantastic, large house currently used by a ‘gas tank delivery’ company. It is found at the Dibuk Road and Satun Road intersection. Don’t miss the Kanom Jeen (rice noodles) restaurant at the T junction.
Phra Aram Sakhonkhet Mansion (former Thai Airways Offices)
Phra Aram Sakhonkhet Mansion is a historic Sino-Portuguese building located in Phuket Old Town. Its beautifully renovated white exterior distinguishes it and represents an important part of Phuket’s architectural heritage.
The mansion was built in 1903 during Phuket’s tin mining era, a period when wealthy merchants and miners constructed grand residences that blended Chinese and European architectural influences. For many years, the property served as offices for Thai Airways, a significant commercial use that preserved the building even as other historic structures deteriorated.
Thai Hua Museum
Thai Hua is a beautiful and well-known house built in 1911 that used to be a school. It now often hosts stage events during Phuket Town Festivals and other ceremonies, and can be visited. On Krabi Road.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 28 Krabi Road, Phuket Town, Talat Nuea, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Open: 9 am – 5 pm
Phone: 076 211 224
Price: 200 Baht
Built: 1934
Baan Chinpracha
Baan Chinpracha is a privately owned mansion, half house and half museum. You can visit it for 130 Baht and discover how life was a century ago. This house appeared in several movies, including ‘Heaven and Earth’. It became hard to spot it after they built a lot of condos in front of it. It is located on Krabi Road, just next to the ‘easy to spot’ Blue Elephant Restaurant.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 98 Krabi, Talat Nuea, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Open: 9 am – 4.30 pm
Phone: 076 211281
Price: 150 Baht
Built: 1903
On On Hotel
The Memory at On On Hotel is undoubtedly the most iconic and best-known heritage hotel on Phuket Island, and this is for a few reasons. Built in 1927 and called Un Un Hotel at the time, the hotel possesses a strong Sino-Portuguese personality in a very central location on Phang Nga Road, the heart of old Phuket Town.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 19 Phangnga Rd, Tambon Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Phone: 076 363 700
Range: 3-star
Built: 1927
Raya House
Raya House is a good old-fashioned restaurant built in an old mansion on Phang Nga Road, and it is still in its original condition. It seems to be frozen in time. Food is excellent for both lunch and dinner. Just read the Raya House full story here, and you will want to go.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 48/1 Dibuk Road, Tambon Talat Yai, Phuket Town, Phuket 83000
Open: 10 am – 10 pm
Phone: 076 218 155
Limpanon Mansion
Limpanon House is an abandoned old Phuket family house built more than 100 years ago. It is hidden at the Intersection of Yaowarat Road and Phang Nga Road. For a long time, the door of the ‘tunnel’ leading to this mansion was open, but it has been locked for years now, and probably too many people have tried to sneak in. This is one of the most mysterious houses in town. The light is sometimes on, but every door or window is closed. A bit eerie.
Ratsada Mansion
Another example of a beautiful mansion abandoned, probably beyond repair. We walked around this area a hundred times without ever noticing it, but once you do, its beauty is striking. It has no known name, so we called it Ratsada Mansion as it is located at the back of Ratsada Road, behind the weird ‘Thavorn Museum‘ where the very first Phuket Shopping Centre used to be.
Thai Hua Hokkien Club
I have admired this almost unknown house for many years. Located on Dibuk Road, next to the Shell gas station and just opposite the vast Wat Mongkol Nimit Temple, people tend to drive too fast in this street to pay much attention to it. Finally, someone saw its value and rebuilt the Thai Hua Hokkien Club entirely while respecting its original look. Nice work.
House of Tin Baron on Satun Road
This restaurant is now closed.
This house sits on a vast plot of land just opposite a school on Satun Road. It has been for sale for a long time but hasn’t gotten any buyers, possibly due to some building restrictions. It was finally renovated to become a Thai restaurant called House of Tin Baron.
The Chartered Bank
The Peranakannitat Museum (Baba Museum or Chalermraj Centre) opened its doors in the heart of Phuket Town after many years of renovation. Located at the intersection of Phang Nga Road and Phuket Road, the Peranakannitat Museum is set inside what used to be the old ‘Standard Chartered Bank’. It’s a rather modest museum, but the location and the Sino-Portuguese building itself are worth walking in.
Aikwanich Mansion
You can’t miss Aikwanich Mansion, this mint-green building, when you walk through the heart of Phuket Old Town, it sits right at the corner where Dibuk Road meets Yaowarat Road, just opposite the Locktien Local Food Court, a beautiful example of the island’s old Sino-Portuguese architecture. We’ve passed it countless times over the years, and even though it’s not open to the public, it’s still one of the most photographed corners in town.
Sound Gallery House
Sound Gallery House is a boutique hotel set in a restored 80-year-old Sino-Portuguese mansion on the edge of Phuket Town. The property features music-themed décor, an elegant lobby with a grand piano, and a peaceful private garden. Accommodation includes both private rooms and a mixed dormitory. Guests can relax in shared spaces, enjoy coffee at the on-site café, or explore nearby heritage attractions. The hotel is located about one kilometre from the old town’s main sights and markets.
Location:Phuket Town
Address: 33/6 Vichitsongkram Rd, Wichit, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Phone: 061 446 9114
Built: around 1940
Baan Ar Jor House Museum
Baan Ar Jor mansion (meaning ‘The Old Lady House’) was built in 1936 by a Tin Mine industrial businessman as a house away from town. It was abandoned for many decades, and we often drove by wondering what its story was. As long as we remember, the three-storey house was in bad condition but was still standing proudly in the middle of a vast and neglected open field.
Location: Mai Khao Beach
Address: 102 Thep Kasattri Road, Thalang District, Phuket 83110
Open: 10 am – 10 pm
Phone: 062 459 8889
Built: 1936
Panwa House
Panwa House is a white Sino-Portuguese restaurant surrounded by palm trees, right on the secluded beach of the Cape Panwa Hotel on the east coast of Phuket. This house has been a Phuket icon for years, even appearing in movies or TV series.
Location: Cape Panwa
Address: 27, Mu 8, Sakdidej Road, Cape Panwa, Phuket 83000
Tel: 02 233 3433
Open: 6:30 pm – 11 pm (except Mondays)
Yamaha Music School Phuket
This building, which hosts a music school, was originally an old government building at the intersection of Yaowarat Road and Mae Luan Road. It later became a restaurant for a few years.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: 158 Yaowarad Rd, Tambon Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Phone: 086 475 1534
House on Yaowarat Road
Next to ‘Kanok Kwan House’, which is just next to Endless Summer Coffee Shop listed above, this is a privately owned house.
House on Yaowarat Road
This beautiful mansion is just across the street from the two houses above. Gates are always closed, and the house is also privately owned.
Sala Mae Pong
Sala Mae Pong was an abbot’s house built on the grounds of the Wat Mongkol Nimit, a revered temple built on Dibuk Road in the historical streets of Phuket town.
The Old Post Office
Located on Montri Road, it is now a philatelic Museum. Unless you are into stamp collections, there is not much to see inside. Just next to the new post office.
Location: Phuket Town
Address: Montri Rd, Talat Yai, Mueang Phuket District, Phuket 83000
Built: 1930
VT Namnueng Restaurant on Vichitsongkran Street
Another beautiful old house that used to be unoccupied. It is built in a large garden just next to Thai Hua School on Vichitsongkran Street. This house is now a Thai Vietnamese restaurant, but has lost a lot of its charm in the process of renovation.
Phra Phisaisappakij House
Phra Phisaisappakij House is a century-old Sino-Portuguese mansion near Phuket Town’s main market. Built during Phuket’s tin mining boom, it belonged to the Tantavanich family, who helped shape the island’s economy. The house reflects both Chinese and European influences, common among wealthy families linked to Penang and Phuket. While not open to the public, we can see the impressive facade and understand its importance to local heritage. The mansion is still a private residence, located within walking distance of Thalang Road and surrounded by old-town markets.
Kathu Museum
What used to be a very rundown house by the side of the road in Kathu is now transformed into a small but lovely museum about Phuket Food. It used to be part of the large beer storage warehouse.
Abandoned house on Chaofa Road
History of Phuket mansions (Ang-Mor-Lao)
In the past (about 100 years ago), communication between Phuket and Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, was done with great difficulty. Despite the construction of railways to Kantang, Trang by King Rama V, travelling to Bangkok still required up to three to four days or even a week in comparison to travelling to Penang, which only took a day via steamboat. This explains why Phuket businessmen travelled more frequently to Penang than to Bangkok.
Similarly, in the case of education, wealthy families in Phuket preferred to send their kids to school in Penang. When they returned to Phuket, they brought back with them the blueprints of the unique Sino-European architecture they were exposed to in Penang and commissioned builders to build their houses in a way that was similar to Penang.
We call these Mansions’ Ang-Mor-Lao’.
‘Ang-Mor-Lao’, or the mansions of the tin mine era in Phuket, still exist today and can be seen around Old Phuket Town. The architecture where Chinese beliefs are mixed with European art resulted in delicate decorations of auspicious sculptures such as bats, pigeons and clouds on the head.
(as described inside the Peranakan Phuket Museum)
The Real Phuket
