Taiwanese activists are fighting to preserve a building in downtown Taipei that was home to a brothel for over 70 years until it closed down in 2001, one of the campaigners says.

The two-storey wood and brick structure, erected in 1925, has been included in an urban renewal project, causing fears for its future among local residents who see it as part of the island's tangible cultural heritage.

"The building is a symbol of the island's history," said Chang Jung-che, an official with the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, a non-profit advocacy group for sex workers' rights.

The collective's office is located inside the building, and it has refused to move even after court ordered it to leave last year, following a request from the building's owner, he said.

The collective will continue its campaign to preserve the building mainly through the court system, Chang said, adding that his group had received backing from student groups, among others.

Chang said that the building was worthy of preservation partly not least because the area around it was a breeding ground for several movements emerging in the first half of the 20th century to liberate Taiwan from Japanese rule.

Japan governed Taiwan as a colony for five decades from 1895, and it was Japanese administrators that approved the construction of the building and its use as a brothel.

The building continued to serve this purpose after Taiwan was handed back to China in 1945, operating under a licence regime for prostitution in effect from 1956, and was only ordered to halt 11 years ago.