Jim Thompson House
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Jim Thompson House
address
Rama 1 Road
Bangkok,
Thailand
phone +66 (0)2 216 7368
Type: Tourist attraction
Located off Rama I close to Siam Square, this is the one-time home of the man credited with restoring the Thai silk industry following World War II. Today, this collection of traditional Thai style houses are preserved as a museum with a priceless collection of Asian art objects. The houses on the property themselves constitute a great sample of authentic south East Asian residential architecture.
Jim Thompson was born in Delaware in 1906. During WWII he served in the office of strategic services in Thailand. After the war he decided to move here where he cast his eye on the dying art of Thai silk. He began promoting it abroad and build a worldwide clientele for the products, creating the Jim Thompson fashion empire in the process.
Jim Thompson disappeared under mysterious circumstances while talking an afternoon walk in the highlands of Malaysia in 1967. His sister was murdered in the US that same year, giving rise to a number of conspiracy theories, including communist spies, business rivals and the like. Others maintain a tiger probably ate him. The most recent theory is that he was accidentally run over by a truck driver who hid the remains.