A Japanese colonial era guesthouse built between 1914 and 1920 using traditional woodworking, reportedly without a single nail. Originally constructed for visiting Japanese royalty and senior officials, it hosted several members of the imperial family throughout the 1920s and 1930s. After the war, Chiang Kai-shek used it as a summer retreat from 1949 to 1951, and the exterior was painted green for camouflage. The building includes fireplaces to combat the highland humidity and sits on raised stone foundations. Designated a county monument in 2009, it was restored in 2023 and is now open to the public on a limited basis.
Map
Heritage Status
- City Monument (縣(市)定古蹟)
Links
- Wikipedia in Chinese (中文維基百科)
- Cultural Assets Bureau (文化部文化資產局)
- Taiwan Cultural Memory Bank (文化部國家文化記憶庫)
Themes
- Japanese Colonial Era Taiwan (台灣日治時代)
- KMT Authoritarian Era Taiwan (國民政府時期)
- Chiang Kai-shek Guesthouses (蔣公行館)
Nearby Locations
Author
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I am a web application developer, photojournalist, urban explorer, and history enthusiast passionate about the open web and documenting my experiences on this planet. This project was founded in the early 2010s and has evolved into a sort of personal Wikipedia of places that interest me (and often the photographs I’ve taken there). I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, but spend most of my time residing in Taiwan.