【Introduction】

The Railway Division of Taiwan Governor-General’s Bureau of Transportation was located at the address of the former Department of Machinery during the Qing dynasty. The Department of Machinery was tasked to produce machinery and repair trains. In the Japanese colonial era, it became a designated location for Taiwan Railway Bureau. In 1920 (the 9th year of Emperor Taisho), the main office building of Taiwan Railway Bureau was completed. Other buildings subsequently built include an octagonal men’s room (1919), a war-time command center, e.g. an air-raid shelter (1943), an engineering affair office with a Japanese roof along with a covered ridge of side openings for ventilation (1925-1942), a dining hall that incorporated Japanese and Western architectural style built with double-layer weatherboards (1932). They were handed over to Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) after the war. In 1990, TRA was relocated to Taipei Main Station. The main office building is a two-story Tudor style architecture made of half-brick and half-wood. The first floor comprises mainly of load-bearing brick walls and connected arch-ring corridors. The second floor is a wooden structure with beam columns and roof trusses made of local cypress wood. Paved with slates, the roof features a covered ridge of side openings for ventilation. Inside the main hall, interior elements such as semi-Western pillars, molding and decorations were all built manually with plasters. The craftwork and designs are delicate and exquisite, setting the finest example for preservation of an old Japanese architecture.

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