The starting point of new life for an old house
Taipei Penal Service Office Buildings | Historical Stories
The Taipei Criminal Office originally continued the prison buildings of the Qing Dynasty. It was later moved and expanded to the area of Aiguo East Road and Jinhua Street. It was planned and designed by Yamashita Keijiro, a modern Japanese prison architecture expert, and adopted the latest "Pennsylvania" style at the time. "Style" building, becoming one of the largest modern prisons in Taiwan.
After the Nationalist Government came to Taiwan, it was also used as the "Taipei Prison". Until it was moved to the new site in Guishan, Taoyuan in 1963, anti-Japanese activists Luo Fuxing, Lin Youchun, Jiang Weishui, Lai He and others were imprisoned. In addition, the white terror politics of the 1950s The victims were all imprisoned here, making it an important site for Taiwan’s prison history and events.
After 1949, a large number of immigrants moved in with the Ministry of Justice who moved to Taiwan with the National Government. Some civil servants who had not applied for formal residences expanded or built houses on their own after receiving verbal permission from their superiors. Therefore, the population composition of the official residence area of the original criminal office was In addition to employees of the Ministry of Justice, it also includes employees of different agencies, original residents during the Japanese occupation, and soldiers who came to Taiwan in the early days.
After the Taipei Prison was relocated in 1963, the unused dormitories received a large number of urban and rural immigrants. Since the 1970s, this area has been called "Huaguang Community", and residents call it the "Prison Gate". The attributes of the residents include civil servants, original residents, urban and rural immigrants, etc. If the space is not enough, residential facilities are built in open spaces in alleys. The community has various restaurants, a faith center "Linshui Palace", public toilets and other functions. Over the years, this area has Restaurants also attract urban residents to come and spend money.
From 2007 to 2013, the government promoted public urban renewal of state-owned land, aiming to transform the old "Huaguang Community" into a commercial and financial center. Affected residents protested against forced evictions and requested reasonable resettlement, and initiated litigation with the Ministry of Justice, the state-owned land manager. However, due to changes in political parties and policies, the actual planning of land development, and some non-official residents were deemed to be illegal dependents. households or illegally built households, and therefore could not obtain demolition compensation and resettlement; the original dependent households were relocated at the end of June 2012, and the residents were sentenced to lose the lawsuit. Huaguang Community was completely demolished at the end of August 2013. During this period, many fires occurred and a total of Nearly 20 dormitories.
In March 2013, civil society groups launched the "Taipei Penal Service Community Cultural Assets Conservation Alliance" to once again initiate discussions on cultural assets and strive for the designation of cultural assets and the protection of old trees. Following the designation of the Telecommunications Bureau on Jinshan South Road in the north by the Taipei City Cultural Affairs Bureau in March 1998 After the side wall was designated as a city-designated historic site, the "Taipei Prison Wall Relics", the southern prison wall was once again registered as a historic site and more than 20 Japanese-style official buildings and bathhouses were designated as historical buildings. There are about dozens of banyan, mango, toon, camphor, etc. trees in the area. Protected trees are the beginning of new life for old houses.
future outlook
"Light up Da'an District and make it a happy place"
The restoration and reuse of old houses opens up the second life of historical buildings, and also creates a place where people, objects, and experiences convey links and encounters.
Rong Jin Time Park will be committed to the five friendly integrations of "gender, age, disability, race, and parent-child", cross generational boundaries, practice the cultural value of diversity and equality, and then become "an interpreter of cultural history and a practitioner of friendly services" , a promoter across generations.”
Elders, families, and young people can communicate across generations here, share and listen to each other's values. We look forward to creating a happy time with you through the retrospective accumulation of historical space.
Operations team
Yiju Co., Ltd., starting from the silver-haired Lohas industry, hopes to change the public's stereotyped impression of aging. We fulfill our social responsibilities and provide a variety of services including family support, home services, and integrated community care to achieve aging in place. It is hoped that the experience of unlocking the joy of living for the elderly will be used to irrigate the new life of old houses with happy living water full of vitality.