The Old Chiang Rai City Hall was built in 1897 and opened in 1900 as the office of government agencies and the governor of Chiang Rai, in accordance with the administrative centralization reform policy of the Siamese government. Designed by Dr. William A. Briggs, a Canadian missionary who came to promote Christianity in Chiang Rai in the name of the American Presbyterian Missionary Society of New York, USA, this building is the oldest-remaining city hall in Thailand.
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The first city hall building in Chiang Rai is a three-story brick and cement building, 15 meters wide and 37 meters long. The construction is in the colonial art style, with a hip roof decorated with roof windows. The front of the building is made of brick in an arch shape. The openings on the balconies of the lower building are made of a three-part curved beam structure, and there is a corridor that is connected to all the rooms. The doors are made of teak wood with double-hinged doors. Every room has a skylight above the door.
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The Old Chiang Rai City Hall was registered as a national monument by the Department of Fine Arts in 1977. It ceased operation as a center of government for the Chiang Rai region for over a century, and is currently closed for renovation as the Chiang Rai Photography Museum by the Chiang Rai Provincial Administrative Organization.
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Artist: Michael Lin
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Collateral Event:
เทศกาลดนตรีชาติพันธุ์ “กวาคีลา : เป่า ร้อง กลอง รำ เปิดโลกวิถีวัฒนธรรมดนตรีชาติพันธุ์เมืองเชียงราย”
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Photo credit: Chanin Phasuriwong