AmCham arrow Publications arrow Topics Archive arrow Topics Archive 2003 arrow Vol.33- No.9 arrow Taipei Touring: Old Buildings Reborn
Taipei Touring: Old Buildings Reborn PDF Print E-mail

Three successful renovation projects have shown how old structures can be restored to beauty and usefulness.

 

Three successful renovation projects have shown how old structures can be restored to beauty and usefulness. By Brent Hannon For many decades, the Taipei landscape was characterized by cranes, construction sites, and piles of rubble. More often than not, especially in older, more established neighborhoods, that debris was the remains of an old building, leveled in the name of new development.
But in the mid-1990s, almost unnoticed, a conservation movement got underway, and the renovation of old buildings, rather than their removal, became an attractive option. The construction cranes are still putting up new buildings in eastern Taipei, but in the Wanhua district and on Zhongshan North Road, some notable renovations have taken place in the past couple of years.
The landmark renovation was the Red House Theater in Ximending. The Japanese built the two-story octagonal red-brick building in 1908, with a long extension in the shape of a cross. It first served as a wet market, and during the 1950s, it became a public meeting place where Shanghainese storytellers entertained large audiences. In the late 1990s it closed for renovation, and last year re-opened as an elegant concert venue and coffee shop, following a US$1 million facelift that was seen as a model for similar projects.
The top floor of the Red House Theater is now one of Taiwan's premier locations for live musical and stage performances. With interior walls of red brick and a high ceiling supported by polished wood rafters, it seats about 200 people in an intimate dinner-theater setting. One recent Saturday night, 65-year-old beauty Mei Dai sang old mainland songs to a rapt audience. Some of the older men were moved almost to tears, filled with memories of a bygone era. On other nights, jazz or blues echoes from the brick walls and octagonal wood roof.
The cross-shaped extension to the Red House will re-open later this year as a retail market, filled with upscale shops and restaurants, following a US$2.8 million renovation. Skylight windows have been built into the tile roof, and the extension promises to be as classy as the Red House itself. Another renovation that has gained attention is the Tudor-style Taipei Story House, on Zhongshan North Road next to the Fine Arts Museum. This quaint little house was built in 1913 by a Taiwanese tea merchant named Chen Chao-chun. Over the years it has played host to many famous people, including Sun Yat-sen, and numerous Kuomintang dignitaries.
The Taipei Story House was declared a historical site in 1998, and it re-opened earlier this year as a museum following an extensive upgrade. It attracts about 200 visitors per day, who stroll through the grounds, and sip tea and eat snacks in the adjoining Story Tea House. To modern visitors, the Taipei Story House is very petite, and even feels something like a dollhouse. The tiny rooms are exquisitely done, and the exhibits are rotated from time to time. The current show, covering Taiwan's tea industry, will last until November 9. Unlike most other attractions in Taiwan, the Story House has detailed explanations in English.
Another landmark re-opening was the former U.S. Ambassador's residence at 18 Zhongshan North Road. This huge mansion was built in 1901 by Japanese architects and was home to six American ambassadors between 1953 and 1978, when formal relations with the U.S. were severed. During those 25 years, the building was the scene of some of the most lavish parties in Taipei, as the elite of political society met to sip champagne, munch on canapes, and talk business. Then the building stood vacant for decades, with peeling paint and overgrown vegetation spoiling its erstwhile glamor.
Now called Taipei Film House, the old mansion re-opened in November 2002 following a US$1.7 million revamp that was largely paid for by the TSMC Educational and Cultural Foundation. It is now home to an 88-seat art-house movie theater called Spot Theater, an Eslite bookstore featuring books on film and cinema, and two cafes: Café 25° on the lower level where the living room used to be, and the 6th Avenue Taipei upstairs. Café 25° is especially appealing, with its floor-to-ceiling windows, and shady, tree-lined courtyard seats.
The pervasive film theme is especially evident on the main staircase, where the ceiling is painted with a scene from "Flowers of Shanghai," a movie by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien. The Spot Theater, located where the mansion's garage used to be, shows a wide variety of film fare -- up to six different films per day on weekends, and three films on weeknights. Most of the films are Chinese, although more than half have English subtitles.
Taipei Film House might be the most popular renovation in Taipei. On a recent weekday afternoon, the Spot Theater was filled with moviegoers, the Eslite bookstore was busy, and there was not an empty seat at Café 25°. Taipei Story House, by contrast, is more of a museum piece, while the Red House Theater draws the biggest crowds for its live shows in the evenings. While different in size and purpose, the objects of the three facelifts have one thing in common -- they represent a new trend in Taipei of appreciating the old and making it new again. Successful and popular, the Red House Theater, Taipei Story House, and Taipei Film House have set the stage for future renovation projects.
 
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