A white two-storey house with a projecting octagonal bay, louvred shutters and a red-tiled hipped roof stands among lawns, palms and clipped shrubs. King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) laid out Dusit Garden after his journey to Europe in 1897, and Vimanmek, the largest golden teak mansion in the world, was its first royal residence, inaugurated in 1901.