Guangci Welfare Home

Date CapturedJune 29th, 2016 at 10:21 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 7.1Shutter Speed1/200 secFocal Length26.0 mmISO400Exposure Value13.3 EVOriginal Size3600 × 2400

Originally known as the Taipei Municipal Relief Institute (台北市立救濟院) in Songshan, the facility relocated to Fude Street (福德街) in 1969, just south of where Fude Public Housing was built one year later. The entire complex was renamed Guangci Welfare Home in 1974 and for a time it was the largest of its kind in East and Southeast Asia. At its peak it housed elderly residents, orphans, children disabled by the 1960s polio epidemic, and women in vocational training. As polio receded and incomes rose its wards thinned, and by the end of 2008 the campus was empty. The southwest corner was repurposed into Xinyi Park No. 413 (信義413號公園) while much of the rest was demolished. In the 2020s the entire site was redeveloped into the present-day Guangci Bo’ai Park (廣慈博愛園區), where a museum preserves photographs and everyday objects from the old institutions.