Judicial Yuan Building

Date CapturedAugust 27th, 2023 at 03:08 UTCCameraDC-S5M2LensLUMIX S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6Apertureƒ / 8Shutter Speed1/320 secFocal Length34.0 mmISO100Exposure Value14.3 EVOriginal Size3600 × 2400

A four-storey eclectic-style building designed by Ide Kaoru (井手薰), the Governor-General’s Office chief architect, and constructed between 1929 and 1934 on the site of the demolished Guan Yu temple (武廟) that once stood within the walled city of Taipei. The reinforced concrete structure is modelled after the kanji for “sun” (日) with two interior light wells, and its exterior is clad in matte pale-green tiles chosen in part for their anti-glare and camouflage properties. The central tower rises 31.8 meters and is crowned with an octagonal kōa-shiki (興亞式) roof blending Japanese and Chinese architectural motifs, a style associated with wartime imperial ideology. The interior stairways and octagonal columns are finished in Hualien marble, marking one of the earliest uses of domestic marble in Taiwanese architecture. Originally housing the Governor-General’s High Court and the Taipei District Court, it has served as the seat of the ROC Judicial Yuan since the 1950s, and is now recognized as a national monument.