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Stroll of the Senses: The Architecture of Central Taipei

 

In the Japanese colonial period, the central area of Taipei was constructed as an ideal city, an urban utopia with all the important public buildings a modern city should have, satisfying people’s needs in daily life and also at the level of spiritual faith.

 

Centered around National Taiwan Museum in the 228 Peace Park, central Taipei is the scene of banks with colossal pillars, the city’s main train station, Western-style restaurants, coffee shops, European-style plazas and concert halls, and the exquisite architecture of the Taiwan Cooperative Bank building. 

 

Central Taipei can be likened to the city in Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World – it offers everything one could need in a very small space.

 

Attractions:

 

Presidential Office Building – NTU Hospital – National Taiwan Museum – Park Plum Juice Shop – Taiwan Cooperative Bank – Land Bank – 228 Peace Park

 

MRT: NTU Hospital Station

 

The Land Bank in Central Taipei

 

Located on Xiangyang Road in Taipei City is a magnificent building, what was once an overseas branch of Japan's Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank. With eight pillars on the front and animal carvings on the walls, the building exudes a steady and trusted image peculiar to the financial industry.

 

In Japanese “Kangyo” means “to promote business.” In 1903, Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank in Japan commissioned the Bank of Taiwan to represent its business operations in Taiwan. It formally established an overseas branch in Taiwan in 1922, and built this building in 1933, in response to growing business on the island. 

 

However, the building was once closed, because chips were falling from its walls. After a series of rallies led by scholars and cultural figures, the building was preserved as a historical site.

 

Walk past National Taiwan Museum, and you'll find two unique memorial gates in the 228 Peace Park. One of them is the Honorific Arch for Madame Huang, built in 1882 to recognize the virtue and piety of a certain Madame Huang by her son Wang Tianxi. The other was made in remembrance of the charity work by Hong Tengyun and was moved to this site in 1905 by the Japanese colonial government. The Land Bank, which used to be the Taipei branch of Japan's Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, was constructed in a combination of Western, Japanese and Egyptian styles. Another building, for the Mitsui Company, falls into the category of Renaissance architecture. The North Gate Post Office is another must-see for its historical significance.