In 1912, colonial coal magnate Chien A-niu (簡阿牛) celebrated his self-made fortune by building a baroque-style mansion in what is today Dasi District (大溪) in Taoyuan, with the name Chien Cheng Trading Co (建成商行) on its facade.
Today, the facade is the only intact portion of the house, which has been registered by the Taoyuan City Government as a heritage site and is a tourist attraction on historic Dasi Old Street (大溪老街).
Reconstruction work at the mansion is due to begin early next year, the city government said, after the Ministry of Culture grants funding for the project.
When it was first built, the mansion was the most striking building in Taoyuan.
Its baroque style was replicated in many other colonial buildings, including the Presidential Office Building and the Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫) family’s ancestral residence in Changhua County’s Lukang Township (鹿港).
Over the past century, the mansion’s facade and side pillars sustained heavy damage, while its interior collapsed entirely, the Taoyuan Cultural Affairs Department said.
The mansion was registered as a heritage site in July 2014 following the Taipei National University of the Arts’ efforts, the department said.
The department in 2015 launched conservation work at the site by installing sheds to protect it from the elements, removed vines and termites, and performed limited repairs, it said.
The Chien Cheng building is a distinguished specimen of Dasi Street’s about 70 historical structures, said Huang Chien-yi (黃建義), the owner of Dasi-based Taiwan Watermelon Arts and Culture Museum.
The mansion has a vaulted dome, decorative turrets, twin pillars and a triplex layout, while the company name was inscribed in both Chinese characters and its Japanese pronunciation’s Romanization, Ken Sei Sho Co, Huang said.
The family surname Chien is emblazoned on the dome’s front and center, while the facade has decorative elements of beads and abacuses, he said.
The dome’s lacquered black tiles were a conscious statement emphasizing the Chien family’s social status and wealth, he said.
“Chien Cheng Trading Co played an important role in the history of Dasi’s development and the building is a good example of the architectural art of the time, making the site worthy of preservation,” Huang said.
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