Historic Landmarks
The Presidential Palace

The Presidential Palace, with its classic design, exquisite detail work, and fine proportions, is the political epicenter of the ROC.

The construction of the Presidential Palace was begun in 1912, at the center of the old Walled City of Taipei that existed in the Qing dynasty. It was first built to be the administrative building for the Japanese governor-general of Taiwan. Construction took nearly seven years and cost 1.8 million yen. It is an English-style building, and a very representative example of early 20th-century European-style architecture in Taiwan. The architects Nagano Uheiji and Moriyama Shunosuke designed the structure and supervised construction. The central tower is 60 meters high, making this the tallest edifice in Taiwan in its day, and a symbol of the authority of the Japanese colonial rulers.

The Presidential Palace has an elegant form and well-conceived proportions, with exquisite detail work. As the central tower goes upward, it changes from being four-sided to octagonal. The building is made of red brick, with inlaid horizontal decoration. A portico runs around the entire structure, which also has guard towers, including square ones at all four corners. The building is rich in decorative embellishment. It is an unusual combination of both beauty and authority.
 

The Grand Hotel

At night, the illuminated Grand Hotel can be seen far and wide. From the hotel you can look down on an intoxicating view of Taipei City.

As you enter Taipei via the Chungking North Road exit of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Freeway, in the distance to the left you can see the Grand Hotel. Virtually every foreign visitor to Taipei is intrigued by this impressive example of Chinese palace-style architecture. Built in 1952, it was once considered one of the top four hotels in Asia. The hotel has played host to more than 50 heads of state, and was the most important work of palace-style architecture of its time. Unfortunately, because it was so closely associated with the ancien reime in Taiwan, since the disappearance from the political stage of the Chiang dynasty, most people in Taiwan now have a sense of the hotel being something that belongs to the past.

Yet the Grand Hotel remains special -- in its architecture, in its natural setting on a mountainside with green space all around, and in the view it offers of Taipei from its elevated perch -- and everything is at a world-class scale. The view is especially remarkable: To the front lies Taipei City, to the left the fountains and dikes of the riverside park, and to the right the lower reaches of the Keelung River.

The hotel is even more fascinating at night. As you drive into the city along the freeway, in the distance, halfway up a small dark-green shadow of a mountain, there sits a resplendent palace. Enter the main lobby, decorated with sculptures and paintings, for a coffee or a drink, and then go upstairs for a view of Taipei at night... It’s an enchanting and unforgettable experience for travelers.
 

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

The CKS Memorial Hall is built in a Chinese style; besides its role as a memorial, it is also a venue for arts exhibitions and just relaxing.

When the sun shines on the 70-meter high apex of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall -- with royal-blue glazed roofing tiles like the Altar of Heaven in Beijing -- it sends a bright reflection of purple-tinted blue light in all directions. This hall, completed in 1980, is made in traditional Chinese architectural style, and houses memorabilia related to the late president. Outside the hall is a Chinese style garden, complete with a small pond and ornamental bridges, artificial rises and stone benches, and a variety of both native and non-native flowers. These days it is used mainly as a park where neighborhood residents can while away the hours.

 

At night, lights glitter around the CKS Memorial Hall, inviting passers-by for a closer look.

If visitors can get themselves out of bed by six or seven a.m. for a turn around the grounds of the memorial hall, they will discover people engaged in an eye-opening variety of exercises, including Chinese martial arts, qigong, folk dancing, and calisthenics.

When night falls, the memorial hall dresses up. In front of the main hall, one on each side, sit the National Theater and National Concert Hall. By moonlight, they look like fairy-tale palaces. These major venues are booked solid with major international performance artists and troupes, and performers in Taiwan consider an appearance at the National Theater or National Concert Hall to be a signal honor.

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