Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok

The Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok sits on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, defined by the white facade of the Authors’ Wing, a structure that has occupied this riverfront plot since eighteen eighty-seven. As the first luxury hotel in what was then Siam, it emerged from a history of riverside boarding houses dating to the eighteen sixties. While the site saw earlier structures burn or evolve, eighteen seventy-six is the date officially recognized as the hotel's founding.