The Taipei City Government should grant the Kikumoto Department Store (菊元百貨) historical site status and restore it to its original appearance, conservationist organizations and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Pasuya Yao (姚文智) said yesterday.
If restored, the Kikumoto Department Store could become a landmark and provide continuity to Taipei’s urban history, Yao said at a news conference in front of the building, adding that he would continue to lobby the Ministry of Culture.
Standing at the corner of Hengyang and Boai roads, the store built in 1932 is one of the biggest stores constructed during the Japanese colonial period, together with the Hayashi Department Store (林百貨) in Tainan.
Photo: CNA
Civic groups have called for the building’s preservation since 2014, while its owner, Cathay United Bank, has sought to replace it with a new structure.
The City Cultural Asset Review Committee Tuesday last week said that the building had lost most of its original interior and exterior after multiple renovations.
While the building is a cultural asset, it should be designated a historic building rather than a heritage site, the committee said.
It proceeded to reject all three proposals submitted by Cathay Real Estate Development Co, and demanded that the company submit a plan for the store’s conservation.
Architect Hsiao Li-jen (蕭力仁) proposed two methods of conservation — to either conserve the structure or only the facade — as well as the option to rebuild the entire structure.
The first proposal, to preserve structural integrity, is the hardest to accomplish as it involves soil improvement and establishing shear walls, Hsiao said, adding that it would also affect the development rights of landowners in the building’s vicinity.
On the other hand, merely preserving the facade would severely limit future uses of the building’s basement, he said.
Considering the building’s low resistance to seismic activities and structural weaknesses, Hsiao also proposed to demolish and rebuild the entire structure employing methodologies utilized at the time.
However, the committee said that none of the proposals would work.
The proposal to use reinforced concrete rather than removable iron structures to preserve the building’s structural integrity was incomprehensible, committee member Hsueh Chin (薛琴) said.
If Hsiao’s standards were to be followed, then all 300 buildings along Dihua Street should be torn down, committee member Chan Tien-chuan (詹添全) said, adding that the architect had not “put in enough effort.”
Dihua Street, considered to be the oldest street in Taipei, was built in 1850 and has remained a center of trade for tea leaves and Chinese medicine.
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