The old no longer inevitably gives way to the new. In modern Taiwan, the preservation of historical landmarks is increasingly being regarded by both the public and private sectors as a vital task. The recently renovated Taipei Story House illustrates this trend of putting old buildings to new use.
As the bearer of memories and traces of history, many old buildings in Taiwan that have survived the threats posed by modernization are now increasingly being valued as dusted pearls waiting to shine again. In April this year, one of these gems, the Taipei Story House, began to glow on the cultural map of Taipei, presenting a retreat where tales from the past century can be retold and re-savored. This Tudor-style, 90-year-old building stands along Chungshan North Road--the city's most important thoroughfare until about a decade ago--near where the Keelung River intersects the Tamsui River at Yuanshan.
This building was erected--in 1914, historians believe--by a wealthy tea merchant, Chen Chao-chun, as a place to entertain guests and relax. To complement the structure, Chen and his architect added a private racecourse, which stood on the grounds of the present Taipei Fine Arts Museum next door, as well as a garden several times larger than the one now remaining. The Keelung River provided a convenient means for Chen and his local and foreign guests to reach the villa from the Tataocheng area--the commercial center where Chen's home and business were located--on the western edge of what is now downtown Taipei. The boat trip was a pleasant one, as the Yuanshan (literally "round hill") area was considered one of the top 100 scenic spots in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (18951945). Capping this low mountain was the Taiwan Shinto Shrine, where the Grand Hotel now stands, which honored the memory of Taiwanese conscripts who sacrificed their lives for the Japanese imperialist cause.
Chungshan North Road, which was connected with Yuanshan by the Meiji Bridge, served as the route by which the Japanese viceroy and visiting members of the royal family paid visits to the shrine. At a time when the local population was normally kept quite separate from the ruling Japanese elite, the presence of a Taiwanese-owned house at such an exclusive location on the "royal road" was a noteworthy development. "What's most important about this building isn't what we see in the architecture, but what we know about the owner," says Liao Hsien-hao, commissioner of the Taipei City Government's Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). "Above all, this building marked a significant advance in the Taiwanese people's social status as they began to acquire power as entrepreneurs."
During that period, Taiwan's tea industry was flourishing, bringing considerable wealth and international connections to those engaged in the trade. The emergence of these rich businessmen not only brought shifts in the previously rigid social structure, but also started to change Taipei's physical appearance. As exemplified by Chen's villa, the tea merchants helped introduce elements of Western lifestyle into colonial Taiwan.
This half-brick, half-timber structure was unique in being modeled directly on European architecture, rather than adopting a Japanese notion of Western tastes. So far as is known, it was also the first building in Taiwan erected not for purposes of housing or business but purely for leisure--an idea totally alien to most Taiwanese of that period. "The owner represents someone who maintained an eclectic lifestyle," Liao notes. "To a great extent, this new lifestyle manifested the cultural vitality of Taiwan's people, including their ability to adapt to and absorb elements from other cultures." From this perspective, this riverbank villa perhaps foreshadowed the later further diversification of Taiwanese culture as a result of economic development.
According to the DCA, the "Father of the Chinese Republic," Sun Yat-sen, was invited to stay in this house while on a fundraising trip to Taiwan from Japan. Sun and Hu Han-min, who was the military governor of Guangdong Province and removed from his office by Yuan Shih-kai, came to Taiwan on August 3, 1914, after the unsuccessful "second revolution" against Yuan. Sun stayed in Japan after the revolution and went on to establish the Chunghua Revolutionary Party to rescue the infant republic from Yuan. During the time they were in Taiwan, Hu stayed at the villa, and Sun in a traditional Chinese villa that stands today between the Executive Yuan and the Taipei Main Station, according to the DCA. The owner of the European-style villa, Chen Chao-chun, became one of those who donated money to Sun's cause. Over the subsequent decades, the house changed hands several times. At one point, the Japanese military police expropriated the property and used it to, among other things, interrogate prisoners. When the Kuomintang government took possession in 1945, the villa served as the residence of the president of the Legislative Yuan. In 1979, the title to the property was passed to the Taipei City Government, which made it into a social club for artists. Finally in 1998, the city government announced this building's designation as a third-class historical landmark.
The Cultural Assets Preservation Law, enacted in 1982 and revised three times since, defines three classes of historical sites. The first class consists of historical landmarks of national significance, the second of important sites of notable historical value, and the third of antique structures of local cultural value, all of which will be preserved by different government agencies. In recent years, both the central and local governments have been making increased efforts to preserve old structures of historical significance. Taipei City alone has 106 designated historical sites that are in the process of being restored. The DCA, established in 1999, has set up a Historical Site Evaluation Committee (HSEC) to determine the treatment of prospective historical landmarks. It launched an "adoption program" in 2000 to help draw private resources into the effort of preserving and reviving the selected sites.
The Taipei Story House was the third project undertaken under the adoption program. Before the building was reopened this April, it had been sealed for renovation for more than two years. During that time, the DCA opened the case for adoption and one particularly qualified applicant turned up--Chen Kuo-tsi, a retired lawyer and former chief executive of the National Culture and Arts Foundation. She became the private sponsor and executive director of the Taipei Story House on a four-year contract. Although other adoption cases had involved organizations rather than individuals as sponsors, Chen had the financial resources and professional knowledge needed to qualify as custodian of the property, the DCA's Liao points out.
Chen came to Taiwan from Hong Kong in 1975 to practice law. After living in Taiwan for nearly three decades, she says this island has long become her home. "Where I grew up was a colony, and it's very difficult to call a colony home," she says. "Colonial rulers encourage the colonized people to forget their own past, not to remember, which I consider a really sad thing. I didn't come to Taiwan because of war. Choosing to live here was a very conscious decision for me." And beyond the sense of Taiwan as home, Chen believes firmly in the value of the island's cultural heritage, and she has put her belief into practice through active involvement in the preservation of these public assets.
The devastating 1999 earthquake that destroyed numerous historical sites in central Taiwan further strengthened her desire to contribute to that effort, Chen says. The Taipei Story House provides her with an opportunity for hands-on participation. "I'm glad that the DCA implemented this wonderful policy and actually put it into practice," she says. "The government cannot possibly do everything, and it should take advantage of the strengths and resources of the private sector to serve the public good." The DCA took responsibility for restoring the infrastructure of the Taipei Story House, and then turned over administration of the building to Chen when the renovation was completed. During the duration of this contract, the HSEC will periodically evaluate Chen's work to make sure that the house is well cared for.
With the approval of the supervising agencies, Chen decided to turn the old villa into a public space. "I gave myself and the place a mission," she says. "The house itself will help spread the word, encouraging people to love and appreciate their cultural heritage more and more." And the way to do that, she is convinced, is to create reasons for people to visit the house repeatedly. Chen and her team plan to hold thematic displays on a quarterly basis in addition to a permanent exhibit. In working out the fixed route that visitors take through the house, Chen and architect Curtis Kung spent a lot of time determining how to create the right ambience without damaging the building's structure.
Chen has tried to add a modern spirit to the house to help shape meaningful memories of the present as well. "A project like this--creating a dialogue between an antique structure and the exhibit space inside it--is as fascinating as it is challenging," Kung says. Because this delicate building has physical limitations as a display hall, the messages conveyed by each exhibit must be simple and direct. Kung has found some imaginative ways to overcome those limitations to help articulate the messages. He added a glass partition separating the front and back portions of the building, for example, to aid in guiding visitors on the correct itinerary through the house. In addition, he transformed the reception room on the ground floor into a glass box by installing glass panes inches away from the interior walls. These modern, transparent materials feature old maps of the area, historical background information on the building, and world events of that day. The glass panels allow visitors to see through to the original structure behind. In the dining room, old pictures of Taipei fill the interior with a warm atmosphere. Today the house is decorated with new furniture, but the tiling is a reproduction of the original and many other aspects have a period flavor.
On the second floor, the architect installed in a white wall movable "memory boxes" chronicling life events occurring in Taipei. These little time capsules capture events that affected people in their everyday lives, such as the first public bus line linking Taipei to the Yuanshan area, which first started service on January 2, 1913; the Yuanshan Zoo, which opened on April 5, 1913; the National Taiwan Museum at the 228 Park, which was founded in 1915; and many others. The architect also turned the corridor leading to the front balcony into a second display area lined with boxes looking as though they had popped out from the new wall. These boxes contain a series of daily objects from the 1920s and the 1930s, such as glass ice bowls, Chinese cooking pots, cosmetics kit, ashtrays, and children's books, among other things. These display items are on loan from a number of collectors, and they reflect the refined lifestyle of the riches during those periods. To help the visitor better understand and appreciate the past, the house also features an audio-visual room that can further function as a classroom or as a venue for seminars and conferences. The gift shop downstairs carries an array of artifacts handmade by well-known artists. Out in the garden, visitors can enjoy country-style French cuisine at a restaurant run by The Landis Taipei Hotel.
The entire atmosphere is intended to stimulate a sense of nostalgia for days gone by, Chen adds. On average, some 200 people a day have come to visit the house since the opening. Many of the visitors are groups of students from various educational levels, and Chen especially welcomes their attendance. "This building is so lovely that one can easily fall in love with it," she remarks. "I hope for young people to see it as a cultural heritage accessible to them, not as some temple that has little connection with them. A young person with a love for old buildings is just a wonderful match."
Kung notes that the house has a personality of its own, one that fits in well with the many distinctive and varied styles that characterize Taipei. "When President Chen Shui-bian was the mayor of Taipei, he turned the capital into a festive city," Kung says. "Now Taipei is filled with numerous intriguing cultural spots, and as a result of these changes, it's becoming an exciting international metropolis." He commends the adoption program for allowing the private sector to contribute fresh ideas, efficient management, and new sources of financial support to the city's cultural life. As one of the pioneers of the program, Chen has been setting a good example for other enthusiasts to follow, he notes.
The caretaker of the Taipei Story House plans to set up cooperative programs, such as joint tours, with other historical sites and museums in the near future. And she will continue to try to learn from foreign experience in the resurrection of Taiwan's historical sites. "This is only the beginning," she says. For Chen Kuo-tsi, the past is her future.