Little Kyoto no more
The station-front community aged with the passage of time. As people and shops gravitated to Taichung’s 7th Redevelopment Zone, few have been willing to set up shop downtown in recent years. “When people heard that Dawncake was preparing to open a shop there, they laughed at us as if we were crazy,” says Weng.
Yet to the Dawncake team, this crumbling district was chock full of historical memories. “We want to revive the Central District!” Exclaiming this seemingly naïve wish, the Taichung-born team bought the eight-decade-old Miyahara Eye Clinic, and started the first steps of refurbishment.
Following the refurbishment, the Miyahara Eye Clinic reawakened.
Built in 1927, Miyahara Eye Clinic was founded by Takekuma Miyahara, former member of the advisory prefectural council and administrator of Taichung Hospital. In 1929, he quit his post as hospital administrator and opened Taichung’s first eye clinic in the prosperous quarter in front of Taichung Railway Station, now the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Lüchuan East Road.
After World War II, Miyahara moved back to Japan, and the location was taken over by the ROC government, and converted to the Taichung City Health Bureau. As demand grew, the original space was soon no longer adequate. The Taichung City Government, though intending to relocate the bureau to a different place, instead suspended the plan due to budget problems.
In 1956, the prominent local personage Zhang Ruizhen stepped in and reached a settlement with the city government to take over this property in exchange for a newer building for the bureau to move into. After the Miyahara Eye Clinic building was taken over by Zhang, there was a dispute over its ownership, and during litigation the clinic building was divided into a nine-unit rental space, whose tenants included Taiwan Daily and Young Soldier Daily.
The courts eventually ruled in favor of Zhang in 1970, but by then the building was gradually falling apart due to long-term neglect. Add to this the 921 Earthquake of 1999 and major typhoons, and the structure had suffered so much damage that in 2008 part of the building was deemed hazardous by the Taichung City Government. The once proud Miyahara Eye Clinic was facing certain demolition.
Dawncake’s pâte de fruits, and chocolates adorned with prints of native plants, are highly popular. Many customers come from afar to try their signature ice cream.