Former British Consulate at Takao

The most well-preserved Western consular complex in Taiwan, occupying both the Shaochuantou (哨船頭) waterfront and the hill above the entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor in Gushan, Kaohsiung. Following the opening of Takao as a treaty port under the Treaty of Tientsin, the British established a consulate here to serve as the primary diplomatic post in southern Taiwan, safeguard trade interests, and exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction. Designed by William Marshall of the British Public Works Office in Shanghai, the consulate office and residence were built completed in 1879 with materials shipped from Xiamen and Shanghai and assembled by Fujianese craftsmen, making this the first foreign-supervised construction project in southern Taiwan. During the Japanese colonial era the office was repurposed as a Japanese fisheries research station while the residence became the Takao Marine Observatory.