After Chulalongkorn’s death, more amenities and symbols of a modern
city continued to be added to the landscape, including hospitals, a new
university (Chulalongkorn University, 1917) and Lumpini Park, originally
intended as the site for a major international exhibition. A number of functional
zones associated with royalty and the state were consolidated. While
the old centre of Rattanakosin remained central to key ceremonies of state,
the focus of the royal precinct had moved outward, with the king occupying
the modern Chitralada Palace in Dusit. Inner Rattanakosin had
become the major zone of government offices, a zone which later expanded
along outer Ratchadamnoen Avenue. By the reign of King Rama VI,
two of Siam’s three armies were strategically located in the capital
(Chaloeylakana 1988: 160–1). North of Dusit, the main barracks and associated
offices of the army housed a military concentration which still
dominates this area today