Whilst visiting Bangkok, I paid a visit to the Atlantic Hotel on Sukhumvit Road, one of the city’s few surviving mid-century landmarks.

Opened in 1954, the hotel dated from a very different era of Bangkok’s development when Sukhumvit was still on the edge of the city and international tourism was in its infancy. Over the decades it has gained a cult following among architecture enthusiasts and photographers and has featured in quite a few films, music videos and travel features due to its striking retro aesthetic.

The external facade of the Atlantic Hotel was an unassuming grey slab of concrete with stern warning signs on the front door making it abundantly clear that sex tourists were not welcome. Given the hotel’s location in a place associated with the sleazier side of Bangkok’s nightlife industry, the messaging was understandable if slightly confrontational.

Stepping through the doors, however, the lobby felt calm and nostalgic. Large expanses of terrazzo flooring, wood panelling, brass details and low-slung mid-century furniture evoked an atmosphere that felt frozen somewhere between the 1950s and 1970s.

Rather than attempting to recreate a retro aesthetic, the Atlantic appeared never to have moved on from its original fixtures and fittings: the reception desk, signage, lighting and decorative features all seemed authentically of their era and remarkably well preserved.

A broad staircase rose from the lobby to the upper floors and provided one of the building’s most striking architectural features. With its sweeping lines, polished handrails and generous width, it looked more like the entrance to a civic building or ocean liner than a modest city hotel.

To the right of the entrance was the restaurant, another space that appeared largely untouched by contemporary trends or mod cons such as air conditioning – the ceiling fans were working overtime.

The room was simple but not without charm furnished with laminated dining tables, 1950s-style booths and plenty of reading materials. The menu and service gave the impression that it was a place that had been quietly serving guests in much the same way for decades.

To the rear of the lobby was an outdoor swimming pool, which occupied a surprisingly generous courtyard space given the central location of the hotel. Surrounded by mature planting and overlooked by the hotel’s low-rise wings, it felt like an old-fashioned holiday resort – the opposite of the sleek rooftop infinity pool that has become a standard fixture in most modern Bangkok hotels.

I did not see any of the guest rooms themselves, though photographs online suggest that they are pretty basic and no-frills (though perfectly clean and functional) with low rates to match.

While the Atlantic was neither grand nor luxurious by contemporary standards, I found it to be one of the more characterful and welcoming places that I visited in the city (no one seemed to be bothered by the fact I was wandering around as a non-guest snapping away) not to mention an increasingly rare survivor of the waves of redevelopment happening across Bangkok.