Being friends with Bill Bensley must be a humbling affair. Over an illustrious 35-year career, the multi-award-winning architect and designer has worked on more than 200 resorts in over 30 countries. While the rest of us were binge-watching Tiger King during the pandemic, he took up painting and was soon selling out exhibitions and being invited to international art fairs.
One of his most celebrated creations is The Siam, a family owned, 38-room property on a beautifully landscaped 1.2-hectare site next to the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Less heralded is the contribution of the hotel’s founder and creative director, Krissada Sukosol Clapp, whose grandfather originally bought the land in 1973.
Another unfairly talented individual, Clapp had already won an MTV music award as the lead singer of indie-rock group Pru, plus several acting awards for his film work, before convincing his family to let him build a luxury hotel on the site. The Siam received lavish acclaim when it opened in 2012, but that was more than a decade ago. Meanwhile, Bangkok has welcomed countless high-end resorts and new ones debut every year.
All of which begs the question, does The Siam still cut it in the city’s fiercely competitive luxury hotel market? Selflessly, I volunteered to find out. The first thing that strikes me is the property’s comparatively remote location. While many of the city’s luxury offerings are within the lively riverside suburbs of Bang Rak and Khlong San, The Siam is the only five-star property in the Dusit district, a largely residential neighbourhood five kilometres north of The Grand Palace.
Flanked by a hospital, a fire station and a university, it’s a long way, both figuratively and logistically given Bangkok’s often hellish traffic, from the clamour of Chinatown and Sukhumvit. Of course, for many guests this is precisely its appeal. The hotel exudes an aura of tranquillity that’s a welcome respite from the rest of the city.
Entering the colonnaded courtyard lobby, a Moroccan-influenced oasis of rattan chairs and hanging ferns, I’m presented with a chilled towel and a delicious elixir containing lychee and passionfruit. A lotus flower-shaped fountain tinkles demurely nearby while mellifluous birdsong drifts in from outside. If heaven has a reception area, it would look like this.
Twenty-two years is an aeon in the hospitality industry, but thanks to an extensive four-month renovation in 2019, the property still looks lustrous and bright. And thanks to Bensley’s design expertise, its art deco and Beaux Arts-inspired interiors still look every bit as elegant today as when it opened. Particularly striking is the three-storey central atrium in the adjoining Residence building, which is home to the property’s 28 individually styled suites.
Resembling a Victorian conservatory, it’s a light-flooded space with a central water feature out of which a jungle of six-metre-tall wild banana plants spiral towards a vaulted glass ceiling. The manicured grounds are equally attractive, a medley of frangipani-lined pathways, ornate iron trelliswork and soothing water features. Bensley is best-known as an architect, but he’s also a talented landscape designer, and The Siam is a masterclass in what’s possible in a narrow and relatively compact site.
All that notwithstanding, what really breathes life into the property is the extraordinary collection of artworks and antiques collected by Clapp and his mother, Kamala Sukosol. Every public space is decorated with an eye-catching ensemble of sculptures, prints and striking, one-off furnishings. In the library, there are glass cabinets full of intriguing memorabilia, from an antique Bangkok guidebook to a 1902 New York dinner menu honouring a visit by the then Crown Prince of Siam.
Alongside the many rare first-edition books are dozens of vintage clocks, old military uniforms and priceless Chinese earthenware pottery dating back to 2000BC. All of which means you need to allow far longer to get anywhere than normal because you’ll be frequently compelled to stop and admire a display of bronze buddhas in glass cloches, the contents of a 1920s steamer trunk or an evocative charcoal portrait by acclaimed Thai artist Vasun Harimao. If there’s one criticism, it’s that few of the artworks have any explanatory labels, so you’re often blissfully unaware of their significance.
General manager Nick Downing says he’s hoping to introduce a QR code system, so people can access additional interpretation; he just needs to pin down the prodigiously productive Clapp to extract the information first. Another notable feature is the unusually generous use of space. Suites start at a capacious 80 square metres and balloon to an extravagant 130 square metres for the 10 standalone pool villas.
All are individually themed, containing one-off antiques and artworks, and impeccably styled using a timeless black, white and grey palette with dark wood floors and elegant art deco flourishes. There are all the amenities you’d expect in a hotel of this calibre, like butler service, a 22-metre infinity pool, well-equipped gym and high-end spa, and many that you wouldn’t, such as a full-size Muay Thai boxing ring (the hotel can organise training sessions with a professional fighter), a music room with more than 400 vinyl records and a tattoo studio where guests can receive a sacred Sak Yant design from a Buddhist tattoo master. It’s innovative experiences like these that keep people coming back.
During my visit, they are trialling a new offering where guests can have a 19th-century-style black and white portrait taken using a vintage metal plate camera. The property’s food and beverage offering has evolved too. You can still enjoy authentic home-style Thai cuisine at the original Chon Thai Restaurant, a riverside eatery housed in three traditional antique teak stilt houses.
But now there’s also The Story House, a contemporary venue launched in 2022 by New Zealand chef Blair Mathieson (in a space designed by Bensley, naturally). Options on the internationally themed menu include sesame-crusted seared tuna, tiger prawn gnocchi and Tasmanian Cape Grim rib-eye. One real danger of staying at The Siam is that there’s little incentive to venture outside.
But the property has thought of that, too. Not only does it offer a curated list of restaurant, activity and sightseeing recommendations, but it also provides a complimentary river shuttle service in a stylish luxury wooden motorboat. The sunset departure accompanied by cocktails and canapes is predictably popular.
As for Bensley, his association with the property has come full circle. After decades of behind-the-scenes input, his prolific creativity is now for sale in the hotel’s new onsite gallery. Housed in an old teak house sourced by legendary silk merchant Jim Thompson, Bensley’s eclectic artworks range from colourful wooden sculptures starting at $235 through to bold 1.
5-metre-square acrylic paintings for $12,000. A bit steep you might think given his considerable financial success. And then you discover that all the proceeds are donated to the Shinta Mani Foundation and Wildlife Alliance to support conservation and wildlife protection.
Stay Suites from THB22,000 ($912) plus taxes a night, including a la carte breakfast at Chon Thai Restaurant. Selected suites can accommodate a wheelchair but bathrooms aren’t fully accessible. 3/2 Thanon Khao, Dusit, Bangkok.
See thesiamhotel.com The writer was a guest of The Siam..
