Original content and Illustrations by Cheng Kai-hsiang (from The Streetside Buildings of Taiwan)

The facades of buildings along Taiwanese streets come in numerous and complex styles. In addition to their original architectural exterior design, they also include the various signage subsequently erected by later residents. Piece by piece, these multifarious elements introduced over successive eras make up the appearance of the buildings along our streets today.

As the name implies, “streetside buildings” is a local term usually referring to buildings lining the streets. In Introduction to Historical Landmarks, Professor Lee Chien-lang related that “most of the buildings erected along city streets were designed in a long rectangular style, known as a ‘handkerchief village.’

Streetside buildings were also known as ‘store buildings,’ distinguished by wooden front door panels, which could be removed for conversion into a store front. A walkway or arcade out front facilitated browsing by passers-by.”

Early Taiwanese street buildings can be divided between Minnan (southern Fujian), eastern Guangdong, Baroque, and Western designs. The term “streetside buildings” is still used today in reference to streets on which buildings are situated close together, with high visibility, easy accessibility, and excellent suitability for running businesses. These are normally distinguished with a main facade that serves as the focus for architectural expression.

Taoyuan

If all the signs in Taiwan were ranked for ostentatiousness, the one on this nail salon located near the Taoyuan Train Station would probably be at or near the top. A gigantic, realistic hand reaches out from the facade toward the street, showing five fancily painted nails, frankly indicating that this is a nail salon. The hand also wears a ring, above which is a prominent ribbon and bow around the wrist, as if offering this merchandise to customers as a gift.

The facade is finished with white shingles, not only using shadow and light to create decorative effects, but at the same time highlighting the luxurious colors of the giant hand. A red base under the white facing is the main color of the sign, which reads “QQ Beautiful Nails,” the salon’s name, offsetting the giant hand’s red fingernails and the red ribbon and bow. Further down, a green bar with gold letters reads “hand care,” one of the salon’s services.

This image reminds me of the Dōtonbori shopping street in Osaka, where similar approaches can be seen all over the place as each shop uses oversized installation art to attract customers.

For tourists like me who are not familiar with the Japanese language, it is easy to tell what kind of food each shop is selling based on the gigantic food decorations, making the transmission of information very convenient. If Taiwan’s signs could have a little more such creativity, it could bring a little more fun and humor into our lives.

However, the 100 streetside buildings I have depicted are not limited to those on commercial streets according to the conventional definition, or buildings on the street with facades. In fact, many are dilapidated old buildings, residences, or haphazardly arranged signboards.

In addition to combining the two distinguishing features, namely close proximity to the street and having a main facade as the focus for the architectural expression, I have come up with a broad explanation of the term “streetside buildings.”

My selections focus on communicating that multi-level “lived-in feeling” expressed by Taiwanese architecture, along with the human significance behind it. This is why the buildings selected are not limited to residences or shops, and include tinplate rooftop additions, streetside temples, and storage spaces made with piled rocks. These are all streetside building styles from which I draw material.



Tainan

The King of Medicine Temple (Yaowang Temple) stands tall at the foot of Shennong Street in Tainan. A popular site for photography, most tourists take their pictures and leave. But just a few meters away in the corner, a small temple captured my interest.

This little temple is covered with corrugated tinplate siding, emblazoned with the three characters Shen Fo Tan (Sacred Buddha Shrine), and flanked on both sides by illuminated 卍 characters (pronounced wan in Mandarin).

The celestial guardians painted in color on the temple doors are civil officials, holding various articles including a hat, deer, and wine flask, symbolizing “achieving an official position and attaining wealth,” phrases usually divided between the doors on both sides. This differs from typical sayings featuring military officials as guardians of the gates.

Three lanterns hang in front of the entrance; the one in the middle reads “sky lantern,” and the ones on the sides read wu fu qian sui, the name of a popular folk religion. Stylistically speaking, the temple uses symmetrical forms.

The sign above uses three rectangles, while the three lanterns in the middle are oblong, and the gates below are three rectangles, each with its own symmetry. These symmetrical relationships create a feeling of harmony and stability in the overall picture, and their different scales produce variation.

The History-worn Flavor of Old Buildings

In an effort to capture building facades infused with early architectural aesthetics and the marks of history on old structures, the streetside buildings I selected include old buildings with distinctive architectural textures and dilapidated empty buildings or rooftop additions.

The workmanship of early decorative facades is invested with the artisans’ touch. Moreover, the natural aging and peeling that takes place with old buildings over the years gives rise to various layers of color. The traces worn by time hold a certain allure.

The remaining old buildings force the beautiful early craftsmanship and crude modern architectural elements together. I have attempted to find the harmony and beauty in such clashing elements. Aging architecture also speaks to its times, telling its story by the side of the road.

As for dilapidated and unoccupied buildings or auxiliary structures, although they appear run-down beyond all hope, I tried to bring out their color in my works, so that while taking them in, the viewer can pause and reflect about the numerous social issues possibly underlying these streetside buildings.

Some of the old buildings in my watercolors have been covered with modern-day canvas rain awnings, metal trellises, or signboards. The melding and clashing of old and new produce intriguing contrasts between different eras.

Some dilapidated illegal structures appear decrepit and ugly in person, but contain numerous arrayed elements: rusted metal sheeting might produce colorful blue and orange variations; collapsed wooden or steel beams can form interlocking visual lines, both horizontal and vertical; and vegetation crawling over a building or wrapped around a telephone pole produces a dynamic linear beauty, while the green color and curves soften the hard architectural lines. It is these rich variations that give these old streetside buildings such lyricism and beauty.



Kaohsiung

This noodle shop is nestled under telephone lines and a big tree on the right side of Fengping Second Road heading from Kaohsiung towards Pingtung. The proprietor created shelter from metal trellises and plywood and got right down to doing business. The tree’s crown and the stand have almost become fused into one, and the tree lends the homely noodle stand a linear beauty, so that it is hard to know which came first - the tree or the stand.

Endlessly Variable Signage

Another key aspect of streetside buildings that I depict is the myriad complex variations of signage. The most frequent sight on the streets is the signboards of all different heights and sizes, all of them looking like they’re competing for attention on the front lines. Generally such scenes with all the different looks and colors appear haphazard and chaotic.

However, the process of elimination and depiction of sketching allows order and interest to emerge from amid the seemingly complex objects.

Taipei

This building is situated at the intersection of Guanqian Road and Kaifeng Street in Taipei. There are storefronts on either side of the actual setting, which I used artistic license to remove. This left the facade in the corner, to illustrate the rows of stacked signage that make up this distinctive Taiwanese scene.

This street corner is perfectly located, so that while approaching Guanqian Road, the giant facade can’t be missed. This is also why it is prime real estate for advertisers, whose signage is plastered all over the wall from top to bottom, making every inch valuable.

Perhaps this sort of street scene looks unsightly to many people, but if you think about it from a different perspective, to people unable to read Chinese, these signs look like a variegated collage.

In his book Empirical Aesthetics, Professor Huang Kuang-nan related the late Dutch artist Corneille’s response at seeing the streets of Taipei filled with signage, saying that the kaleidoscopic light the pictures came together to create was an essential form of modern art.

If we remove ourselves from our local identity and step away to experience Taiwan’s signage like an outsider, perhaps we can come away with a different take on it.

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Architectural Elements of Taipei’s Streetside Buildings

An island that has been subject to numerous cultural influences over the centuries, Taiwan has formed an accepting cultural personality. This quality of acceptance or tolerance is evident from the appearance of architecture from various periods.

A building’s external appearance contains a large assortment of symbols and elements, so that, whether intentionally or not, while looking at it we receive the messages conveyed by these symbols and elements.

Seeing familiar architectural elements naturally gives rise to feelings of connection and common memories. And these elements also fashion the “Taiwanese flavor” I seek to convey to everyone in my paintings of these streetside buildings.

The following is an overview of several architectural elements that appear in my chronicle of Taiwanese streetside buildings:

Signage

Signage competing for attention is a big surprise when I look at streetside buildings. Coming in all sorts of colors and in odd shapes and forms, they are sometimes combined with technological media such as LED lights and jumbo screens. The contents of the signage also frequently stirs symbolic emotional connections among Taiwanese people.

Sheet Metal Structures

When looking at streetside buildings, you’re sure to discover that Taiwan has many factory facilities and rooftop additions made from sheet metal and corrugated aluminum. Standing high above such a scene, clusters of tinplate rooftop additions seem to make up Taiwan’s distinctive landscape.

Most of these metal-skinned structures use stainless steel or tinplate due to the low cost and ease of assembly, giving it wide acceptance. However, drawbacks include being prone to rusting and poor air circulation.

Taichung

This tinplate structure on Jifeng Road in Wufeng lies at the apex of two intersecting roads. At the actual site, the facing continues on the left side, but I made the subjective choice to get rid of that in order to draw attention to the unusual “Z”-like shape.

The second floor of this streetside building made from tinplate is dilapidated beyond repair, leaving just supports and a teetering corrugated aluminum roof that barely functions to shade the sun. A prominent white signboard is emblazoned with the words “Ho Family Drum Corps,” the characters above it having faded beyond all recognition. On the right side, tubular LED lights are arranged in a radial pattern above a betel nut stand.

Signage for betel nut stands or entertainment venues often uses bright multicolored flashing neon lights, blaring from out of the dark of night to attract passers by. Neon lights often bring about associations with colorful, bustling nightlife, forming a distinctive, fascinating emblem.

The name of the betel nut stand is “Getting Through Life Professional Betel Nuts.” The words “Getting Through Life” seem to suggest a sort of aloofness of watching life pass by, as well as a hint of frustration. Meanwhile, the “professional” title is meant to stress the quality of this stand’s betel nuts, as if telling customers that betel nuts are your greatest companion as you calmly make your way through this life.

Stainless Steel Water Tanks

While wandering all over Taiwan, I often notice stainless steel water towers held up by metal supports on top of or on one side of typical houses and buildings. These prominent shiny silver cylinders usually stick up from the highest point of streetside buildings or at the side, forming the unique landscape of Taiwanese streetside buildings.

As these water tanks, so widespread around Taiwan, are primarily used for water storage or to regulate water volume or pressure, they are usually installed on rooftop platforms.

Arcades

In order to accommodate Taiwan’s rainy environment, many buildings are built with an arcade, or covered walkway, out front. It is common for shops to even pile various articles outside on the arcade, extending the usable space from inside, to create a sort of commercial and residential mixed-use open space.

The arrangement of merchandise varies depending on the proprietor’s aesthetic sense and the nature of their business, to become another type of urban landscape.

Changhua

This streetside building off of Minzu Road in Changhua, emblazoned with enormous characters reading “Spring and Autumn,” grabbed my attention. A picture of a solemn-looking Guanyin Bodhisattva stands between the two characters, below which are various irregular decorative designs. The overall warm hues of the sign contrast with the blue tones of the Bodhisattva.

Signs and pennants are strewn all around both sides, marked with characters like “New Year’s Couplets,” “Guanyin,” and “The Gods.” Red and gold lanterns are densely hung under the overhang, overflowing with bright color like a boisterous Chinese New Year’s celebration.

After doing a bit of research, I discovered that the operation is the Spring and Autumn Fine Arts Society, which has been around for nearly half a century.

The elderly resident master, Mr. Tang Chiu-shui, a Heritage Award winner, is a master of traditional crafts, who crafts multicolor lanterns and glass Guanyin portraits by hand using ancient techniques. Placed on altars in many Taiwanese homes, most of the Guanyin portraits these days are output on computers, but Master Tang is committed to rendering each one by hand to keep this traditional art alive.

Red Brick Masonry

Walking around in the Taiwanese countryside, traditional red brick homes can still be seen, as red brick has seemingly become one of the defining elements of old houses.

As red bricks offer the advantages of insulation from cold, heat and noise, they have become a symbolic and important building material for centuries since their introduction under Dutch rule. Traditional architectural craftsmanship also led to the development of such decorative functions as brick sculpture and laying, introducing a wider variety of beautifying effects for red brick walls.

Yunlin

During the Meiji, Taishō, and Hirohito eras of the Japanese period in Taiwan (1895-1945), over 80 two-story buildings were built on Old Taiping Street in the city of Douliu, characterized by intricate Baroque decorative touches on the facings.

However, the most intriguing aspect for me is the integral connection between this old street and modern life in the present day. Shops along the street each engage in different trades as local residents move about here, making it an authentic old street that is not a deliberately crafted replica intended for tourism.

The buildings along this old street retain their original decorations on the facades, including relief carvings on the parapet walls, white horizontal decorative ribbons, and the warm hues of red brick, as well as placards with the names of the original shops.

I’m not sure exactly when it started, but an “old street” craze swept Taiwan as tourists began flocking to the old streets in many towns and cities. This brought these early structures back to life in new ways, which in a sense is a good thing.

However, I often feel that there is excessive sameness to the commercial nature of these old streets, where old streets are run as tourism sites following a standard model, and the same “old street feeling” is replicated in different cities. This has the unwanted effect of taking away some of the old streets’ color, and eventually causing people to lose interest.

Fortunately, Old Pacific Street is still quite a vital old street, retaining its early architectural appearance while feeling very much alive.

Floral Designs in Concrete

While visiting Taiwan’s streetside buildings, I often find fancy floral designs of assorted types on the walls of structures. The cut-out designs allow air circulation, and the elegant style helps beautify the buildings.

At the same time, the types and functions of the floral bricks are integrated with red bricks and metal bars over windows. At one time they replaced red bricks as the popular streetside building materials, to the degree that they became symbols of the owner’s aesthetic cultivation and wealth.

Decorative Window Bars

Decorative iron window bars in all kinds of designs are a constant source of surprise to me as I walk around Taiwan’s towns and villages. This artisanship was introduced to Taiwan in the 1920s, using principally black iron material, and most often found on temples and Western-style streetside buildings.

After the Taiwanese economy took off in the 1970s and people began giving more consideration to aesthetics in life, decorative iron window bars became a distinctive form of art for master artisans, and one of the most common and familiar architectural symbols in the post-war era. Since the rise of stainless steel materials in the 1990s, handmade detail work like this has become increasingly rare.

Hsinchu

This covered walkway is located at one of the entrances to the Dongmen Market, whose eye-catching white facade attracts many tourists here to pose for souvenir photos.

The decorative iron windows on the second and third floors feature different designs - the one on the third floor looks like horizontal cylindrical patterns, while the one on the second floor looks like vertically oriented fish. The white walls are mottled and cracked, with tea-colored stains. Vegetation grows on the wall to the right under the sign, wrapped around the telephone wire.

The characters on the sign, read “Dongmen Market” from right to left, are outlined by a decorative frame. Below, dim light penetrates from out of the darkness of the arcade, and despite bearing the ravages of history, the understated elegance of the era still comes through.

Established in 1900, Dongmen Market was once Taiwan’s largest market. Rebuilt in 1977, it was the site of Hsinchu’s first escalator. Housing over 500 shops in its heyday, the number of businesses dwindled to barely a dozen over the decades. Under the efforts of city planners, in recent years youth groups and merchants have moved in to breathe new life into the old market.

The original article is an extract from the following book. Content and Illustrations provided by Cheng Kai-hsiang.

English article translated by David Toman, edited by TC Lin and Sharon Tseng.



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