Taichung Station, Railway station building in Central District, Taiwan
Taichung Station is a protected railway building in Central District that displays a Renaissance facade of red brick walls with white trim framing the windows and doorways. Inside the structure several large rooms with high ceilings allow natural light through wide windows and preserve the original layout of counters and waiting areas.
The first wooden structure appeared here in 1905 and served passenger traffic during Japanese rule over the island. In 1917 the current brick complex replaced the older building and operated until 2016 when the tracks moved to an elevated level.
The building's name honors the city's former designation Taichung and reflects the era when Japanese planners introduced Western design principles to Taiwan. Today visitors walk through the preserved entrance hall and see the original tiles, wooden ticket counters and waiting benches from the early twentieth century.
Visitors reach the building on foot from the modern elevated station next door or through several bus lines stopping in the surrounding district. The interior rooms open during daytime hours and offer a chance to view the architecture without admission while night markets within walking distance provide additional orientation points.
While the new elevated line runs above the site the former ground level with its tracks and platforms remains as an open air exhibition space. Rails and signals lie unchanged where trains stopped until a few years ago.
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