The Kaohsiung Water Resources Bureau has angered local residents by demolishing a possibly 90-year-old Japanese-style wooden police dormitory without first assessing the property’s cultural value.
The bureau was accused of not respecting cultural heritage after it tore down the old dorm close to Kaohsiung’s Cishan Precinct, the history of which was described in a tourist brochure written by local history and culture groups.
Wang Chi-wei (王繼維), a member of local rock band Youth Banana, and a culture and creativity advocate, described the bureau’s action as “sneaky” and a violation of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法).
Photo: CNA
The demolition without prior notification and communication is “unacceptable,” Wang said.
Also, tearing down a historic building “has made culture-dominated tourism meaningless,” he said.
The Chinese-cypress building with black rooftiles was in good condition before it was torn down, Wang said, adding that elderly people living in the vicinity once told him that the building had been built nearly 90 years ago.
The water bureau on Monday ordered the dorm to be demolished to make space for people whose homes have been designated to be removed for a water drainage construction project.
As machines started tearing down the building, the noise alerted local residents, was well as Wang, who was walking by and called the city’s Bureau of Cultural Affairs to stop the demolition.
However, it was too late to save the building from demolition.
Kaohsiung Cultural Property Center head Lee Yu-min (李毓敏) said the incident happened because police and the water bureau were ignorant of the regulations that require a cultural value assessment before demolishing buildings that are more than 50 years old.
“An internal review will be performed” at both bureaus concerned, Lee said.
She said measures would be taken to raise awareness of the regulations, which were not written into the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act until last year, when the act was revised.
The culture bureau said the new regulations were drafted to protect properties with the potential to become cultural heritage sites.
Although the old dorm was not designated a cultural heritage site, it should not have been dismantled before an assessment of its cultural value, the bureau said, suggesting a comprehensive review of administrative procedures.
Bureau Deputy Director-General Han Jung-hua (韓榮華) said the office would “make up” for not completing the required administrative procedure for the demolition project, but did not elaborate.
The demolished dorm was the precinct commissioner’s foreign residence, said a police officer at Cishan Precinct, who wished to remain anonymous.
It had been left empty for years because of the high cost of renovation, the officer said.
However, the precinct had cleaned the house regularly and controlled access to the building, the officer said.
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