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.
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