Taichung Public Pawnshop

Built in 1922, this warehouse served Taichung’s public pawnshop, a municipal welfare service offering low-interest loans to working-class residents. One of few surviving Japanese colonial era pawnshop structures in Taiwan, it was accidentally discovered in 2014 during restoration of the adjacent Shiyakusho and designated a historic building in 2017. The Tatsuno-style red brick exterior features decorative ventilation holes shaped like the old Taichung city emblem. After restoration, the building was encased in a glass exterior and is no longer visible from the street, sparking criticism from the public.