|
Based on the data retrieved from the archives of Taiwanese Governor General’s Office during the Japanese period, this paper examines and categorizes the evolution of the "Building Standards of Official Residences." and “Standard Drawings of Official Residences.” This paper also discusses and comments on the uniqueness in the architecture of these official residences.
1. During the year 1901 and the year 1920, there were sweeping changes in the structures of the local political administrations, which led to changes in the roles of both central government (the Taiwanese Governor General's Office) and the local governments ( county , chou) related to governing of local constructions. During the ensuing years following changes of the local political administrations, the "Building Standard of Ordinary Official Residences" and the "Building standard of Taiwanese Governor General's Office" have been written and modified. These two documents outline the basis for the "Building Standards of Official Residencies."The "Building Standard of Official Residences" was abolished after the year 1945. However, it is still the most important tool to identify and to grade an existing official residence built during the Japanese period.
2. Local governing administrations overseeing constructions were abolished in year of 1901. Instead, the Taiwanese Governor General’s Office provided the “Standard Drawings of Official Residences” for the local governments to use as a guideline. These drawings were widely duplicated or modeled after by the official residences built between year 1901 and year 1920. However, the use of these drawings was greatly diminished in the 1920s because of the re-establishment of local governing administrations overseeing constructions. Nowadays, there are still a significant numbers of remaining official residences which were built during the Japanese period. Some of these buildings are presented as case studies in this paper.
|