They did eventually return home
but Chiang Mai lingered in their
memory. In 2002 the family be-
gan to hunt for a single, simple
row house with long-term inten-
tions to retire in Chiang Mai.
“On the first day, we met a very
unusual real estate broker. She
drove us around the city, regal-
ing us with spooky stories and
ancient tales about Chiang Mai.
Then all of a sudden, she stopped
and pointed out a piece of land.
My eyes focused through the big
old trees on the black wooden
house. That house was the most
outstanding house I had ever
seen. I began to walk towards
it but before I could step on the
land, the broker said “No.” She
would have to ask the owner first.
For months after that we saw
other land and row houses but we
did not find what I wanted.”
The house as we discovered it at
the outset of our journey to cre-
ate 137 Pillars Hotels & Resorts
The importance and wealth of a
property owner in Chiang Mai
was often recognised by the size
of their Lanna style Thai hous-
es, and in particular how many
pillars (sao) the house had…the
more the pillars, the more impor-
tant you were. Visiting journal-
ists, impressed by the history and
beauty of the house, were curious
to as why the Borneo house did
not have a name. On one occa-
sion a publisher wanted to write
about ‘the house with the most
number of pillars’. So Jack Bain
decided to count the number of
pillars which came to 137… and
as noted in the old map of Wat
Gate, there is reference to ‘Baan
137 Sao’, which translates to 137
Pillars House.
“The black house kept com-
ing back to my mind. When we
asked, the broker took us back
and we walked the land, which
seemed too overgrown and too
big to build my small vacation
home. The owner came out from
the crumbling house on stilts and
we got talking. It had been one
year already since he first put
the land up for sale but people
seemed afraid of this black house
hidden among the big trees. In-
stead we were charmed but con-
cerned out of respect to the king-
dom about buying what looked to
us like a Thai royal house. As we
researched, we learned the true,
fascinating story of this house
and the British based Borneo
Company and we knew our fam-
ily could share this slice of Thai
history with the world."