The historic Chen Tien-lai Residence (陳天來故居) — the abandoned former home of a wealthy tea merchant — is finally to be restored by the Taipei City Government after years of property disputes, the city said yesterday.
The three-story mansion in Taipei’s Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area was the home of Chen and his family during the Japanese colonial era, but went unused in the decades that followed due to property disputes among surviving family members.
Concerned about the declining condition of the building, the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs invoked Article 28 of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act (文化資產保存法), which allows the city to take over a historic property if it is deteriorating due to the mismanagement of its owners, the city said.
Photo: Tang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
The city’s plan to restore the building would cost NT$200 million (US$6.9 million), and work would start by October next year, with plans to finish by 2024, it said.
The budget includes NT$130 million to restore the building itself, NT$40 million to repair the surrounding property, and NT$30 million to restore historic artifacts in and around the building, it said.
The city would provide 80 percent of the funds, while the Chen family would provide the remaining 20 percent.
The building’s decorative columns, window frames and archways — made in a Victorian architectural style — would all need to be restored to their original appearance, professor and architect Hsu Yu-chien (徐裕健) said.
The city plans to open the space to the public once the restoration is completed, Hsu said.
“What the Chen Tien-lai Residence represents is not only Chen’s prosperity, but also the prosperity of Taipei and of Dadaocheng,” department Deputy Commissioner Tien Wei (田瑋) said.
The city has targeted 2024 as the completion date to mark the 100-year anniversary of the mansion’s construction, which ended in 1924, he said.
Speaking to reporters, Chen family members said that they had always wanted to restore the property, but disagreements on how to proceed had prevented any progress.
The family is grateful for the city’s involvement and hope the building could become a public center for cultural learning, they said.
“The Chen Tien-lai Residence is the most classic piece of architecture in all of Dadaocheng. The rock installation in its garden especially must be preserved,” cultural preservationist Mi Fu-kuo (米復國) said.
During restoration it would be a good idea to install a low perimeter wall around the property to lend it an air of “mysteriousness” and attract attention from passersby, cultural preservationist Chiu Ju-hua (丘如華) said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and