Meiting Introduction
"Beitou Meiting," built in the late 1930s, is a Western-style villa that witnessed the wartime era and harmonized with the local environment of Beitou. Standing in Beitou Park for nearly a century, it has seen ownership changes from the Japanese Governor-General's Office, the Minister of the Army, to Taipei Prefecture during the Japanese era. After World War II in 1945, it mainly served as a private residence and was registered as a historical building in Taipei City in 2006 due to its architectural characteristics. The structure is built in accordance with the terrain, integrating the mountain view to the south and the flow of Beitou Creek. The upper level features a Japanese wooden framework, while the lower level consists of a reinforced concrete (RC) basement used as an air raid shelter, making it unique and historically significant among the Japanese-style street houses of that time. The entrance has a plaque with the characters "Meiting" inscribed by the calligrapher Yu Youren, and the courtyard contains a protected camphor tree (No. 1679) under the "Taipei City Tree Protection Autonomous Regulation." The surrounding walls are constructed with quarry stones from "Qilian Shore," showcasing craftsmanship. The interior space is designed thoughtfully, utilizing Beitou's rich geothermal resources, with a "hot spring bathroom," an "attic" for observation and storage, and functions for temperature regulation and moisture control while also serving as the ceiling for the lower floor and supporting the main building structure. The entrance features glazed mosaic tiles and a stone-concrete pillar, highlighting the beauty of craftsmanship, while the "octagonal window" design on the walls reflects the Western ornamental style that emerged during the Japanese era, presenting a restrained elegance and demonstrating a sense of time and construction beauty. In 2021, the Taipei City Cultural Bureau commissioned the Taipei Cultural Foundation to operate and maintain the site to enhance cultural asset reuse and local promotion. In the future, it will continue to embody Beitou's unique cultural characteristics through art exhibitions and educational activities, creating a lively space that combines historical, cultural, and artistic elements.
