The Chin Yi Ho (金義合) building opposite the Wanhua Train Station was on Friday unanimously approved by the Taipei City Government’s Cultural Asset Review committee as a cultural heritage site.
The building, which houses a store and the family residence of a local magnate named Chen Yi-tu (陳義塗), was built in 1927 and played a great part in the establishment of the Chen family’s commercial empire during the Japanese colonial period.
In the past few years, the family had intended to knock down the building and construct a building for commercial and office use.
Photo copied by Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
However, they backed away from the idea, saying that the building had great significance to the family.
The building was initially a glass and ceramics workshop, and was later the headquarters of the family’s foray into the petrochemical industry.
Architectural tastes, such as Baroque-style reliefs and Majolica-style glazed ceramic tiles, of the time had a great influenced on construction of the building.
Designed to function as a residence and workspace, the building has offices, a room set aside for the worship of the ancestors of the Chen family, as well as one of the few remaining indoor gardens built during the Japanese colonial era.
Committee members Chao Chin-yung (趙金勇) and Kuo Chiung-ying (郭瓊瑩) on Friday said that the family and the building had preserved techniques and documentation of the family’s method of making ceramics, so conservation of the building would boost the city’s cultural assets.
Architect Lu Ta-chi (呂大吉), who was commissioned by the Chen family, said that maintenance and repairs, as well as repurposing of the building, would take roughly half a year and cost about NT$80 million (US$2.83 million at the current exchange rate).
Financially speaking, converting the building to an office or commercial building would be best, but that would increase the risk of later generations selling the estate when they no longer have use for it, Lu said.
The family felt that it was best to consolidate opinions now, as most of them had lived in the building, he said.
The consensus was to conserve the building, Lu said.
It will primarily be leased out for cultural uses and could double as an auditorium, he said, adding that should there be the need, the building could also be offered to the community for gatherings.
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