Wongwian 22: the roundabout, its history and Bangkok's sign makers

A fire, then a roundabout

At the end of 1917 a fire swept through the crowded wooden houses of Hua Lamphong, then part of Pom Prap. The ministry in charge of the capital proposed cutting new roads through the burnt area to make the neighbourhood safer and healthier. King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) approved the plan, and in January 1918 work began on three roads meeting at a roundabout with a small park in the middle.

Why "22 July"

On 22 July 1917 Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary and joined the Allies in the First World War, later sending troops to France. The king named the new roundabout after that date. Under King Prajadhipok (Rama VII) the three roads were given names that tell the same story: Maitri Chit (friendship), Mittraphan (allies) and Santiphap (peace).

Look up at the lamp posts in the park. They are topped with a wachira, the thunderbolt emblem of King Vajiravudh. In June 2023 the Fine Arts Department registered the roundabout as an ancient monument.

A street of workshops

Rows of two-storey Chinese shophouses ring the circle, a short walk from Yaowarat and Hua Lamphong station. Over the decades they filled with tyre dealers, auto-parts shops and sign workshops, and that is still what the street is known for.

The work behind those shutters is done by hand: cutting acrylic and steel, bending and welding letters, wiring lightboxes, printing faces, then carrying the finished sign out through a shophouse door to install it somewhere across the city.

Thai Prasith Signtech at Wongwian 22

The family's sign work here began with Khun Chaloemchart Lohratanasane's father. He also drew the first Thai Prasith mark: a tall triangle, half red and half blue, standing on a green grid above the letters TPS.

In 1990 Chaloemchart registered the family's sign business as Thai Prasith Signtech. Today his son, Pattarachart Lohratanasane, runs the workshop at 304,324 Wongwian 22 Karakkada Road, under a newer mark: a signboard's T on its post above the road.

Drawing, cutting, wiring, printing and testing all still happen in the one building, and every lit sign is switched on and photographed before it leaves. Some of our work is a short walk away, like a tuk-tuk dressed for the Shanghai Mansion hotel on Yaowarat. The rest reaches much further: the Gulf CARSTOP garages, mall letters for Central, branch signs for AIA, and our own billboards on the road to Rayong.

Visiting the workshop

We are open Monday to Saturday, 08:30 to 17:30, a short walk from MRT Wat Mangkon and Hua Lamphong. If you're bringing an idea for a sign, bring a photo of your shopfront too.