New World Banglamphu: Fish palace in an abandoned shopping mall.

Fish inside the abandoned mall

After a once-popular department store was closed down and partially demolished, the structure seemed empty from the outside. However, it became home to thousands of fish swimming in the flooded lower floors. Today, we will look into this famous structure's history, its tragic past, and how the fish palace came to be.

The New World Department Store

Construction of the store

The New World department store, known in Thai as ห้างนิวเวิลด์, began construction in 1982 and was opened in 1983 at the Banglamphu intersection in Bangkok, Thailand. This location is quite close to the famous Khaosan road. The store gained popularity in this heavily populated area and was a strong contender to the other famous malls in Thailand at the time. It contained many different shops, and one of its attractions was a glass elevator in front of the department store.

There was an issue with the construction of the building, however. Even though the department store was constructed and opened with 11 floors, it only received permission for 4 floors to be built! This problem was dragged on and on while the mall continued to be opened to customers, until 2003 where the upper floors were finally demolished.

Wikimedia

Demolition Tragedy

Demolition for floors 5 to 11 finally started in late 2003. During this period, the store was still open on the lower floors! This means that people were shopping there while the demolition took place! Things were actually going well until June 2nd 2004. The rubble from the demolition has been piled up in the 8th floor, and with this heavy weight that the floor was never designed to withstand, part of this 8th floor collapsed. The rubble injured people shopping in the lower floors, including one casualty. The department store went permanently out of service afterwards.

Demolitions continued in 2005, long after the mall closed down. The first 4 floors that got approved in the first place were not demolished. However, the remains of the mall is now without a roof, and in the same way that it wasn't demolished completely, its story hasn't come to an end.

สำนักงานเขตพระนคร

Inside the abandoned New World department store

Birth of the Fish Palace

The flood

With the roof gone, rain started to slowly collect and started to flood the basement of the now-abandoned department store. This flooded zone is a perfect breeding ground for a species we all know and don't love: mosquitoes! It became a problem to the locals in this heavily populated area. To deal with this issue, the locals placed fish into the water to eat the mosquito larvae!

And this proved to be effective. The fish stayed and increased in population inside the waters of this abandoned structure, decreasing the amount of mosquitoes. At its peak, it was estimated to be thousands of fish swimming inside this abandoned mall!

The store becomes famous

This mall and its inhabitants stayed there secluded to most of the world, only being known mostly by the locals. This was until 2011. This store and the pictures of it, with the numerous fish inside and flooded escalators, became popular online and attracted urban explorers from all over the world.

The Fish Palace

The species

Many different types of fish resided in the remains of the New World department store. According to a local, the first species of fish released into the waters were Guppies, a popular fish to keep. Then other types such as Carps, Catfish, and Tilapias followed. In addition to eating the larvae, the fish were also fed by some of the locals.

The store becomes even more famous

After being known to the world in 2011, it became even more popular in 2014, attracting even more urban explorers and enthusiasts of abandoned places to come to the structure to see the mall for themselves. This was after the pictures of the abandoned department store became extremely famous on social media. However, with this fame comes the end of the fish palace.

End of the Fish Palace

Fish Removal

After it became popular, access to the former department store was restricted afterwards due to safety concerns by the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in 2014. Then, most of the fish has been removed in 2015.

The New World Department Store today

After all that past, this building still stands partially demolished and mostly abandoned to this day. However, it has been opened to the public on some occasions such as during Bangkok Design Week after being determined that the structure was still strong enough. There are plans by the BMA to turn the structure into a public place, and this project has already begun!

สำนักงานเขตพระนคร

New World Mall being turned into a public space.

Conclusion

From a famous department store, to a flooded fish palace, to one of the most famous abandoned structures in Thailand, the New World department store has been an iconic building in Banglamphu and in Thailand as a whole.