Following the tradition of the White House in Washington DC, beginning this month, the Presidential Office in Taipei will be open to the public every morning from Monday to Friday for sightseeing.
The historical building has become one of the most popular tourist spots in Taipei since it opened its doors to visitors three years ago, and has drawn over 450,000 visitors in the past 15 months alone.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CHUANG YONG-MING
Construction on the Presidential Office began in 1912 and was completed in 1919 at a total cost of ?2.8 billion, an enormous sum at that time. Since its completion, this red brick-towered building with grayish horizontal bands on its facade has served as the political epicenter of Taiwan almost uninterruptedly until now.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
It has housed 18 leaders, 13 during the Japanese colonial period and five in the post-World War II period. The first to occupy what was at the time called the Governor's Office (總督府) was the seventh Japanese Governor to Taiwan Akashi Motojiro (明石元二郎). The last to do so was the 19th governor Anto Rikichi (安藤利吉), who was arrested directly after Japan's defeat in WW II in 1945 and committed suicide in the ROC capital of Nanking while on trial for war crimes.
The Presidential Office has 6940㎡ of floor space spread over five floors and a basement level, making it one of the grandest buildings in East Asia at the time of its completion. It's dimensions are about 140m long and 85m wide and seen from above, the building represents the Japanese or Chinese character for "sun" (日), which evenly divides the inner space into two equal parts, each containing an elegant courtyard at its center to provide natural light and greenery.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Built in the European Renaissance style, the building has an 11-story central tower which was previously the tallest point in Taipei and provided a panoramic view of the city. The porch on the main entrance is lined with six sets of Ionic columns. The porch was previously semi-circular, but was remade into its current flat shape after the original structure was destroyed by a direct hit scored by an American bomber in 1945.
The building's original design included a large plaza intended to convey the strength and glory of the Japanese Empire. The grand reception hall at its entrance is decorated with white marble and is lined with Corinthian columns. A grand central staircase leads visitors from the reception area to the upper floors.
The windows of the office's wings lining its corridors are arched, creating an indoor arcade, a design characteristic unseen in similar buildings in Japan, but rather common in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other Southeast Asian countries.
The walls of the Taiwan Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (煙酒公賣局), the Presidential Office and several other official buildings were constructed with RC-reenforced red bricks, a favorite building material of the British in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century. The use of these materials was likely due to the Presidential Office's main designers, Nagano Uheiji (長野宇平治) and Moriyama Matsunosuke (森山松之助), having both studied under Tatsuno Kingo (辰野金吾), who was trained as an architect in England. Tatsuno's trademark red bricks decorated with grayish horizontal bands can be seen on buildings such as the Tokyo Train Station and the Kyoto branch of the Bank of Tokyo.
In Taiwan, buildings in the "Tatsuno Style" can be found in several locations, including the Presidential Office, the Taiwan Wine and Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, the old section of the Taiwan University Hospital (台大醫院大樓) and Chienkuo High School (建國中學).
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