Keelung Post Office

Keelung Post Office occupies the site of the Japanese colonial administration’s primary post and telegraph facility for the port. The institution was established by the army on July 9th, 1895, reorganized as the Keelung Post and Telegraph Office (基隆郵便電信局) in 1896, and renamed the Keelung Post Office (基隆郵便局) in 1907. Alongside the mail it handled the port’s telecommunications: the pole line from the cable landing station at Bachimen terminated here in 1896, completing the island’s first telegraph link to Japan. The landmark building, designed by Kondō Jūrō (近藤十郎) and finished in 1912, stood opposite Keelung Station with a domed entrance and Tatsuno-style red-and-white banded brickwork. Damaged by Allied bombing during World War 2, it was repaired and operated until its demolition in 1970 and replacement by the office buildings presently on site. Postal and telecommunications operations were later separated, and the site still serves both functions today, the post office and a Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) office standing as distinct structures.