Neilson Hays Library, Bangkok — the library a widower built in his wife’s name

Bangkok, Thailand · 1922 · Library

At a glance

A white neo-classical rotunda on Surawong Road, built by a widower for his wife. Jennie Neilson Hays had run the library association for two decades; when she died in 1920 her husband commissioned a building in her name, and gave the work to Mario Tamagno, one of the Italian architects then in the service of Siam. It opened on 26 June 1922. The institution behind it is older than the building by half a century: thirteen British and American women founded it in 1869, and it is still lending books.

Key facts

• Opened: 26 June 1922
• Architect: Mario Tamagno, Italian
• Commissioned by: Dr Thomas Heyward Hays, Chief of the Royal Thai Navy Hospital, in memory of his wife
• Named for: Jennie Neilson Hays (died 1920), Danish-born, a missionary in Siam from 1884, three times president of the library
• The institution: founded 1869 by thirteen British and American women as the Bangkok Ladies’ Library Association
• Thailand’s first community library — and the first women-led library in the region
• Style: neo-classical, with stucco decorative motifs, columns, teak fixtures and an Italianate dome
• 1941: under the Japanese occupation more than 1,000 rare volumes were shipped to Japan; some never came back
• 1986: declared a Historic Landmark by the Association of Siamese Architects
• 2016–2018: restored, on a budget of 10 million baht raised from donors
• The restoration won an Award of Distinction at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation
• Coordinates: 13.727105, 100.522965

What you see

The front of the building is a half-round porch carrying the words NEILSON HAYS LIBRARY in plain capitals across a curved entablature, with Ionic columns below and a low dome above. Everything about it is European and nothing about it is grand: the order is correct, the mouldings are crisp, the scale is domestic. Shutters of dark green louvres close the tall windows, and arched fanlights sit above them — the one concession to a climate the style was not designed for.

Inside, the reading room is the reason people talk about this place. Barrel vaults spring from Corinthian columns, each bay lit by a high arched window, and the walls are lined to head height with teak bookcases behind glazed doors, one of them still labelled FICTION in gold. The floor is teak boards. A ceiling fan turns over a round table and two green leather armchairs. There is a stucco swag over a leaded window, and then more shelves, and then more shelves.

At the gate, a marble post gives the name in English and in Thai — ห้องสมุดเนียลสันเฮส์ — and, underneath, SINCE 1869, which is the date of the association rather than of the building. A wrought-iron panel of roses fills the lower half. Above it a board lists the opening hours, because the library is open, and lends books, and has done so without a break for more than a century and a half.

The library today

Practical information

• A working lending library with a garden cafe. Check current opening hours with the library before travelling.

Sources

• Neilson Hays Library — its own history page: the founding of the Bangkok Ladies’ Library Association in 1869 by thirteen British and American women; Jennie Neilson Hays, Danish-born, a missionary in Siam from 1884, wife of Dr Thomas Heyward Hays, three times president, died 1920; the building commissioned in her memory and designed by the Italian architect Mario Tamagno; opened 26 June 1922; neo-classical, with stucco motifs, columns, teak fixtures and an Italianate dome; the 1941 removal of more than 1,000 rare volumes to Japan; Historic Landmark status from the Association of Siamese Architects in 1986; the restoration begun in 2016
• The Nation (Thailand), on the library’s UNESCO recognition: the Award of Distinction at the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation; the jury citation, that the restoration “demonstrates a nuanced understanding of the spirit of place, which was well-respected and enhanced through careful research and investigation”; the 2016–2018 project and its 10-million-baht donor-funded budget; 50 entries from 11 countries judged, 13 projects from six countries awarded; the building of 1922 by Mario Tamagno, Thailand’s first community library and the first women-led library in the region
• ⚠️ The two sources give different years for the UNESCO award — the library’s own page records a 2022 Award of Merit and a 2023 Award of Distinction, while The Nation reports an Award of Distinction following jury deliberations in November 2017. The award and the citation are not in doubt; the year is, and is therefore not stated above.
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy: Italian architects, engineers and artists worked in Siam from 1868 to 1930, many of them from Turin and specifically from the Accademia Albertina
• The Siam Society under Royal Patronage: diplomatic relations between Siam and Italy established in 1868; King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) engaged Italian experts for major building projects
• OpenStreetMap: coordinates

Record researched and written by Luigi De Marchi for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.

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