Countless ways to visit the old town
Most tourists who come to Taichung’s old town visit the Mayahara building (an eye clinic in the Japanese era) to try some ice cream or buy authentic Taichung souvenirs. This structure, built in 1927 by Japanese ophthalmologist Takekuma Miyahara, at one time was in an unsafe condition and was slated for demolition, but was later bought and restored by the Dawn Cake company. Preserving its historic ambience, the interior is decorated with wooden bookcases, while the sunlight passing through the high glass ceiling creates a nostalgic and elegant mood. This old building has become a well-known attraction in the old town.
In the eyes of Su Jui-pi, an assistant professor of architecture at Tunghai University, Taichung’s old downtown area is like a “girl with 1,000 faces.” You can plan your itinerary there around any number of themes, and each time you will find different wonders to behold.
Su moved into the old town in 2012 to pursue a research project, and on the long-disused second floor of a bank he set up the Downtown Recreative Foundation (now the Downtown Renaissance Association) and began to promote urban renewal in the old downtown. The area is packed with gems, and on each trip there one can choose a different theme to explore, such as youth start-ups, artisans and craftspeople, architecture, backstreet cuisine, bookstores, or coffee shops. Su says that the charm of the old town lies in its mix of old and new, with venerable old shops alongside small, attractive new select shops, giving the area a lively feel.
When Su studied architecture in Japan, he paid particular attention to the issue of unused buildings. He discovered that the unused buildings in Taichung’s old town each have their own stories.
For example, the building currently rented by Happen Social Design was once the law office of Bai Fushun, a member of the local gentry who had to flee Taichung after being involved in the February 28 Incident of 1947. Today, we can still see telltale signs of the building’s origins in the light brown ribbed tiles used on the walls and the signboard from days gone by.
The ChangeX Beer building, at the intersection of Minzu Road and Jiguang Street, has also been through multiple transformations. Back in the Japanese era, its earliest incarnation was a well-known Western-style restaurant called Seiyoken, which opened in 1915. It was frequented by the Taichung gentry, and is often mentioned in the diary of early political activist Lin Hsien-tang. In 1936 it became the Taichung branch office of the Taiwan Development Company. For a while after World War II it was a public cafeteria, until it became the ChangeX beer hall in 1962. In the 1960s and 1970s it flourished as one of Taichung’s four main drinking establishments. Coming to the present day, it was rented by a craft brewery in 2018, and after three years of renovations, including the removal of the sheet-metal roof and restoration of the covered walkways and patio, it became a modern space for dining, drinking, and live performances. The past glory of this century-old structure has finally been rediscovered.
A corner of the Taichung Prefectural Hall.