Yaowarat Road Intersection Ratchawong Road. The Kao Chan Building(nine storey building), the tallest building in Thailand in those days, can be seen on the left.
Yaowarat Road in the pastOne of the 18 new roads in the project to promote the trading business centering in Sampheng District which was submitted for approval from King Rama V by the Ministry of Public Works, Yaowarat Road was first constructed in 1892 in the area originally densely populated by the Chinese. The community had been in poor surroundings amidst numerous badly littered, dirty and untidy-looking alley-ways situated between Charoen Krung(New Road) and Sampheng Roads. The construction of Yaowarat Road, 1,532 meters long and merely 20 meters wide, took altogether eight years. To comply with the King's policy, the road followed a meandering course so as to avoid the existing cluster of houses. It was also following his initiation that rows of modern shop-houses were built along the road for rent to traders, thereby opening up an opportunity for a great number of Chinese to start their own businesses. The new business area that developed from that point onward helped bring about the boom of Sampheng, the district where the country's record revenue through business tax has been registered.
