The owner of a Baroque-style building in Taoyuan on Monday responded to netizens on US social Web site Reddit, saying that there are no monsters or vampires in the building.
The building became the topic of a heated discussion on the site, with some users saying that the granite building “is 99 percent certain to have vampires or monsters in it.”
The owner, a 54-year-old man surnamed Hsiao (蕭), rejected the claim, jokingly saying that he is “also not a 70 or 80-year-old man, but rather just someone who thinks most Taiwanese buildings are too ugly.”
Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Taipei Times
Hsiao said that he simply wanted to make a building that was special and aesthetically pleasing.
He shared photographs of the inside of the building with users on the site to prove his claims that it was not a home to vampires.
He said he has been visited by representatives of TV stations in Shanghai and Japan, with producers telling him the building should house an art museum.
Photo: Cheng Shu-ting, Taipei Times
Hsiao said he plans to use the building as his office and as a guest house.
The building has a basement and seven usable above-ground floors of about 155m2 each, as well as three observation floors above them, he said.
Following seven years of construction, Hsiao just more than a year ago received permits allowing him to move into the building, he said, adding that contractors are still working on the interior.
Hsiao said that he hopes the multimillion-dollar building will leave visitors in awe, adding that the interior would be palatial, in contrast to the “subdued exterior.”
All fixtures and furniture are being handmade and assembled on site, with many being made to resemble classic European decorations and furniture, he said.
The lead wood craftsman on the project, a man surnamed Hsu (徐), said it is the first project of its kind he has encountered in his 30 years of experience.
“Each detail is time-consuming. If the owner is unhappy with the work, my team takes it apart and redoes it,” Hsu said.
Even standard nails cannot be used, as the building’s custom walls are outside normal specifications, he added.
The building has been the subject of many discussions since construction began, while architecture professors have taken their students to study it.
The online discussions about the building went overboard, Hsiao said, adding that he felt compelled to reply and show people the interior.
Hsiao said that his decision to copy European architecture grew from frequent trips to Europe, adding that he feels Taiwan could benefit from classical architecture.
“But maybe in carrying out my ideas I have made what was once cool seem out of touch with the times,” Hsiao said jokingly.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
RSS