Talatnoi Sub District

DISTRICT: Samphanthawong

POSTCODE: 10100

The sub-district of Talat Noi is one of three belonging to the Samphanthawong District. It is just on the edge of the heart of Bangkok’s Chinatown. It has been the home of various ethnic Chinese communities since the founding of Bangkok. Talat Noi is both considered a sub-district and a neighborhood of Bangkok. The boundaries of both are similar though not exactly the same. Talat Noi literally means little market.

Though it is currently and has been for some time a predominantly Chinese community, it was originally settled by the Portuguese from Ayutthaya. They built the Holy Rosary Church back in 1786. In addition to Chinese, other settlers included Vietnamese and Khmer. Talat Noi had Bangkok’s first port.

The Holy Rosary Church has been rebuilt a few times in its history. In 1838, some 51 years after it was originally built, the church was rebuilt as a wooden structure on a masonry base. The chuche again needed o be rebuilt with the current version being finished in 1897. The church has been built in a Gothic Revival style.

Another historic building in Talat Noi is the So Heng Tai Mansion. It was built sometime between 1813 and 1849 by Phra Aphaiwanit. It has been continuously inhabited by the the his descendants. It is a traditional Chinese house and one of the last of its kind in Bangkok. Today the house actually operates as a diving school following the addition of pool to the courtyard. Since 2014, Talat Noi has been promoted as a tourist destination and since then, the house is occasionally open to the public.