Public Administration Hall
The construction began in 1883 and completed in 1884 serving as County Office of Danshui. In 1886, after the relocation of County Office , it was used as Governor's Office. In 1888, the new Governor's Office was built and relocated. The old Governor's Office was used as Public Administration Hall (Taiwan Public Administration Office).
The Building can be accessed with six southbound entrances and there are outer wooden gates on both east and west sides. On the first east gate is the decoration of big sedan band and on the west, there is four sets of big copper instrument. Outside the east side, there are military and official dormitories(later, serving as residency of judge of military affairs committee). Gate on the west side provides direct access to the warehouse; the second east gate connects to bellman room and solider room is on the west. The third gate is the entrance to the main hall where the first half is the site of official hall and study room and the second half is sued as servant room. The fourth gate is the entrance of inner room where accommodates living room and accounting room. The fifth entrance of the master room of Governor (wife of the Governor); the sixth gate is named nanny room and there is a kitchen on the east side. During the early Japanese ruling, Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa stayed here for 48 days and four decades later, a memorial plate in the name of the residency of Prince Kitashirakawa Yoshihisa was established.
Public Administration Hall was the earliest headquarters of Konoe Shida and later it was used by Army Bureau of Governor-General Office from the square in front of Zhungshan Memorial Hall to Poai Road and north to the area of Wuchang Road .
Inspection General Guest House
Inspection General Guest House was completed in 1892 by Governor General Tang Jingsung. The building is at the width of 15 gates and has four entrances, locating the south direction and facing the north direction. There is a hall with three doors behind the first gate and two rooms are on each side, serving as the residency of escort officials. There is also a three door hall and two rooms are on each side, serving as the residency of escort officials. The hall behind the third gate has the central corridor and there are both east and west halls, the residency of Governor. Former Governor-General, Kabayama Sukenori, used the room at east hall as the office while former Director of Civil Affairs, Mizuno, used the room on the west side as office. Later, Governor-General Office was moved to the west side and the center was sued as office of Director of Civil Affairs, and the east was office of Secretary General, and the south was used as meeting room.
Inspection General Guest House is in square shape with luxurious decoration and thus, it was used as Taiwan Governor-General Office during early Japanese ruling.
During Qing Dynasty, China Fir Wood weakly resistant to termite was often used as building material, so current doors were replaced ones. The site was closed for restoration two years ago and re-opened last May. Original pillars were marked with yellow wire.
Ridge beam: The largest beam (roof beam) placed at the center of roof truss bears the weight of roof and is often decorated with Taiji to counteract the evil. A ceremony is required for the installation of ridge beam.
Hooded roof: It is roof rafter used to support fixed “ridge beam” and is named due to the shape as the two ends of hood used in ancient China .
Through beam: It is roof rafter in conjunction with ridge beam and from top to the bottom, with the order of length, there are “main through beam.“the second through beam” and “the third through beam.” “Through” commonly used means “rudder.”
Roof truss: It is the main part of major wooden architecture structure and consists of rafter, through beam, bond timber, Guotung, and Dougung.
Dougung: Dou was used in traditional Chinese architecture to support roof truss; the hexagonal or octagonal beam under roof truss is “Dou.” In the past, the ancient art of framing a house is with hooks not nails, connecting each other as Logo blocks.
Column: The vertical wood supporting the weight of building and connects roof beam and cross beam as the main frame of roof truss. On the top of column is the column set used to support the weight on the top.
Bond timber: Timber used for bonding horizontal frame of short column. It is structural material and seldom carved.
Dou is geometric wooden structural part with groove on the top and it often used on the top of column and beam with square, circle, and octagonal shape. When Dou and Gung are used, the weight of roof can be evenly distributed to pillars.
Chicken tongue: It is rectangular wooded strip used at the conjunction of “rafter” and “Dougong” for stabilizing “rafter.” It was named as the ending shape of chicken tongue.
Guang Dao Gung: It is arch with the shape of Kwan's Knife. Arches have shapes of “Hu Lu Ping Gung,” “Guang Dao Gung,” and “Li Hu Gung.”
Rooms and hallways on two sides have the shallowest depth.
Head gate focuses on the division of interior and exterior gate with wider central gate and narrower side gates. This reflects the image of consciousness and wall gates. Yi Gate has the features of independent space and attachment to concord, serving as main gate.
• Main hall is the main space of the whole building, emphasizing solemnity and majestic manner.
• Head Gate and Yi Gate have the same dimension, but main hall has the deepest depth by 2.4 times. This illustrates the combination of varieties not uniformity.
• Stone material used in Public Administration Building includes basic natural soft rock, Guan Yin Shan rock with harder texture and richer color, and Ji Li An rock with loosen texture and yellow and brown colors.
• Carving decoration on the main wooden structure often uses curves of dragon, Yui and cloudStructural item, Carving, and Color Painting
Bao Gu Shi has the finest carving and uses Guang Yin Shan rock as the material. The dragon on the left and the tiger on the right form the balance.
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Shell carving on the exterior side of Bao Gu Shi presents nine sons of dragon, a symbol of peace. The bearing stone at the bottom serves as the foundation of main gate and is built with An Shan rock.
Gua Tung on the left photo is one type of short column that connects the top beam with the carving of melon shape. Tiger beast or mouse figure is often carved on the top of short column to present family prosperity.
Jing Feng Tung: “Gua Tung” is the short column on the top of “through beam,” a reinforcement component. Shapes include “Jing Feng Tung,” “Jing Gua Tung,” and “Mu Gu Tung.” “Tung” is a commonly used term.
Short column: It is small supporting column of top pillar. The height is larger than its length or width in order to serve the supporting function. Short column on the bottom has the shape of blade top and the front top is bonded. Short columns of head gate, Yi Gate, and those inside main hall have the narrow peach shape which the top is carved as melon stalk of Yui shape. Under the melon stalk, there is spear head in sharp contrast with the treatment of fading technique.
Bond Carving: Carved rafter under
“bond timber” serves the same function with “bond timber” for filling the gap of beam frame. The Public Administration Hall often uses tiger beast carving.
( Left ) Hexagonal tile: Surface tile for indoor pavement.
( Left bottom ) Square tile: Indoor pavement with large size and width.
( Right ) Red plate tile: It is used on the roof top with red and green colors. Fujian tradition prefers the use of red roof tile while Hakka tradition prefers green tile.
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Main Gate: Main gate was built with the connection of several pieces of solid wood to present the greatness. Door Gods painted on the gate now have the faded colors but it is still the preserved valuable cultural heritage since Qing Dynasty.
Wooden gate is fixed by several pieces of wooden plate behind with the installation of door lock. This is strong gate structure and often used in traditional architecture. It is commonly used on the side of large architecture as partition of Tian Jing and attached to the main building or forming another building group.
On the right side of left door, the Official holds a deer while the one of the left holds a peach, presenting promising future.
On the right side of the right door, the official on the right holds a candle while the one on the left holds a peony flower presenting respectively longevity and wealth. 。
Bats hiding under the roof presents “Good Fortune” and these three luck symbols of “Good Fortune, prosperity, and longevity.”
Column base is used to prevent the harm of humidity and distribute beam weight to the foundation nods. For decoration, the bottom uses thinner bonds. Surface circular shaped column bases are used in the whole Public Administration Hall. Although the size of column results in the difference of column dimension, yet they all have same depth of carving lines.
Reference
Yang, R. J. (1991). Investigation Study and Restoration Plan of Taiwan Public Administration Hall. Taipei City : Taipei City Government.
Li, R. T. (2007). New Perspective of Taipei Botanical Garden and Inspection General Guest House. Taipei City : Forestry Research Institute of Council of Agricultural Affairs, the Executive Yuan.
Note: Part of the contents are compiled from the narration of tour guides.
Source of photos: taken by our team.
