The owner of a property in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) has agreed to relinquish his rights to the NT$100 million (US$3.59 million) building after it was designated an historic site connected to the White Terror era.
The Taipei City Government agreed to restore and repurpose the property at 54 Dadong Rd, after the owner, surnamed Tsai (蔡), agreed to relinquish his rights.
The building, which was a bank during the Japanese colonial era, was once the home of White Terror-era victim Kuo Hsiu-tsung (郭琇琮) — a doctor who was executed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for being a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs via CNA
In recent years, the property has been a restaurant.
The Taipei Cultural Assets Review Committee on Monday formerly recognized the property as a cultural heritage site, and said that Tsai’s willingness to relinquish his rights to the property represented a rare success story in the battle to preserve heritage sites.
The committee said the property had come into the possession of Kuo Hsiu-tsung after World War II as his father, Kuo Kun-mu (郭坤木), had built it during the Japanese colonial era.
During the war Kuo Hsiu-tsung had been in prison due to his involvement in an anti-Japanese resistance movement, the committee said.
After the war, he worked for the Taipei Department of Health helping to battle cholera, smallpox and other infectious diseases rampant at that time, it said, adding that he joined the CCP and became involved in the resistance movement following the 228 Incident.
The KMT regime executed him by firing squad in 1950 when he was aged 33, it added.
“Kuo Hsiu-tsung’s former home is historically important, both socially and architecturally. It was intricately built, and merges Japanese and European styles,” the committee said. “Everything from the pillars and window frames to the floor tiles is unique to that period.”
Tsai said that he had purchased the property for a good price 10 years ago, as it had been considered “haunted.”
After a property across the street was sold for NT$180 million, Tsai planned to tear down his property and build a new one on the land, but he was shocked to find out that the property was to be reviewed as a possible cultural heritage site, he said.
“My wife was quite upset. She said her dreams of us building our own property had been dashed just like that,” Tsai said.
He said his only request was that the city government restore the building to its original appearance and that it be opened to the public.
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