Taipei City Hall

25°2′15″N 121°33′52″E

Taipei City Hall 臺北市市政大樓
General information
Status	Completed
Location	Xinyi, Taipei, Taiwan
Construction started	June 6, 1986[1]
Completed	1994[1]
Owner	Taipei City Government
Height
Roof	54.42 m (178.5 ft)[1]
Technical details
Floor count	12[1]
Floor area	196,684 m2 (2,117,090 sq ft)[1]

Taipei City Hall (Chinese: 臺北市市政大樓), the seat of Taipei City government, is located at Xinyi Special District, Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan.

Architecture

Taipei City Hall is a 12-story building, with two stories below ground. It is 54.42 metres (178.5 ft) tall and has a floor area of 196,684.59 square metres (2,117,095.3 sq ft),^[1] capable of accommodating 6,000 employees. The building also often houses exhibitions, performances, speeches, and other public events.^[2]

From above, the building has a “double ten” shape (十十), where ten has the shape of a cross in written Chinese (十). The architects chose this shape to get around informal height restrictions and to offer sunlight and good air circulation. It is also a reference to the National Day of the Republic of China, which is October 10, also known as “Double Ten Day.”^[3]

History

Taipei City Hall from 1940 to 1945 (now the Executive Yuan building)

Taipei City Hall from 1945 to 1993 (now the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and Jian Cheng Junior High School)

Taipei city government was first established in 1920 during Japanese rule. It was initially housed in buildings belonging to Huashan Elementary School [zh].^[4] To handle the city's growth, a new city hall was opened in 1940 on the same site. It was three- to four-stories tall and built in a modernist style.^[5]

When Taiwan was taken over by the Republic of China in 1945, Taipei's city hall was moved to the former campus of Jian Cheng Elementary School [zh].^[6] (The old city hall building eventually became the Executive Yuan building.) As Taipei grew, its city hall could only accommodate around 1,000 employees, and many other units were scattered in various rented offices.^[2] To address this problem, a new city hall was opened in 1994 in the Xinyi District.^[2] The old city hall building became the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei and the campus of Jian Cheng Junior High School [zh].^[6]

See also

• Taipei City Hall Bus Station
• Taipei City Hall MRT station

Not to be confused with New Taipei City Hall

References

1. Taipei Building Permit 83使字第0112號
2. "Taipei City Government Profile". Taipei City Government. 28 July 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
3. "Open to the Public?". Free China Review. 45 (4): 16–21. April 1995. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
4. "Architecture - Building Usage History". Executive Yuan. Taipei, Taiwan. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
5. "Architecture - Design and Construction". Executive Yuan. Taipei, Taiwan. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
6. "About MoCA". Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei. Retrieved 13 January 2024.