The Taichū Prefectural Hall () is a former government building in West District,

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

History

The building was originally constructed in 1913 during the

Japanese rule of Taiwan The Geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu, Penghu Islands, became an annexed territory of the Empire of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Taiwan Province, Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki a ...

as the Taichu Prefectural Hall () which housed the city hall of

Taichū Prefecture was one of the administrative divisions of Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese Taiwan. The prefecture consisted of modern-day Taichung City, Changhua County and Nantou County. It is also the origin of the name of modern-day Taichung. The Taich ...

. The last of four expansions was completed in 1934. It was then used as the office of Environmental Protection Bureau of

Taichung City Government The Taichung City Government () is the municipal government of Taichung. History Taichū City Government was established by the Governor-General of Taiwan and the Taiwan under Japanese rule, Japanese colonial authorities on 1 October 1920. F ...

. The building was designated as a historic building in 2002 and as a city-designated historic building in 2006. In November 2017, the Bureau of Cultural Affairs requested the city government to assign the national heritage status to the former city hall. The application for national heritage status was formally submitted by the

in April 2018. The Taichung Prefectural Hall was officially designated a national historic monument in January 2019. In 2018, it was decided to transform the building into the Taichung Prefectural Hall Park which was expected to be completed by 2021. The project was part of the efforts to revitalize the historic district of Taichung by the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

. The project was estimated to cost NT$1.05 billion and an additional budget of NT$1.2 billion was set for the establishment of an archive for local art history and photography development. Developmental oversight of the center was led by

National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts The National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA; ) is a museum in West District, Taichung, West District, Taichung, Taiwan. NTMoFA was established in 1988 and is the first and the only national-grade fine arts museum in Taiwan. The major collec ...

Lu Shiow-yen Lu Shiow-yen (; born 31 August 1961) is a Taiwanese politician and former television presenter. She is the incumbent mayor of Taichung since 25 December 2018. Education and early career Lu earned a bachelor's degree from National Chengchi Univ ...

announced in February 2020 that her mayoral administration was withdrawing from the agreement with NTMoFA, and that Taichung Prefectural Hall would not become a second exhibition hall for the museum.

Architecture

The building of the art center was constructed with

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

architectural style with

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

. It was designed by Japanese architect . It has a street corner style configuration with the main entrance at the corner. The two sides of the building extended like wings.

Events

The building has been part of the annual Taichung Light Festival, organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the city government. It also used to house other events, such as seminars.

Transportation

The Taichung Prefectural Hall is accessible within walking distance west of Taichung Station of Taiwan Railways.

References

{{commons category 1913 establishments in Taiwan Government buildings completed in 1913 National monuments of Taiwan

History

Architecture

Events

Transportation

See also

References