Historic Preservation of Significant Cultural Sites in Taipei- Comparing 2 Case Studies in the Aspect of Cultural Heritage Management

Cultural heritage management has traditionally been concerned with the identification, interpretation, maintenance, and preservation of significant cultural sites. The public face of CHM, and a significant source of income to support continued management of heritage, is the interpretation and presentation to the public, where it is an important aspect of tourism. Communicating with government and the public is therefore a key competence.

The thesis focuses on 2 sites in the city of Taipei, Taiwan. Both targeted case studies are defined as art spaces of cultural property organized by Taipei City Government. Spot-Taipei Film House, built in 1926 with a southern colonial architectural style under the Japanese colonial period, was originally the residency of the U.S. Ambassador. Once closed due to Pacific war and reopened for the residency of the U.S. Ambassador under the rule of Republic of China. It had faced another closed due to U.S. changed its diplomatic recognition to PRC. Tsai Jui-Yueh Dance Research Institute, built in 1920, was a Japanese style house for the residency of the Japanese Governor. The later owner, Ms. Tsai Jui-Yueh, a dancer who was educated in Japan during the Japanese colonial period, had settled her dance studio in the dwelling, held a 24-hour-long creative activism to save it from demolition by the later ruling government of KMT. This paper will look at Taipei city government’s action toward the two historical buildings. How did the two dwellings process their way to become cultural heritage? The difference movements represent the interpretation and preservation of the space. Additionally, the thesis will review how the two culture heritages present themselves to the public as well as the spatial reinterpretation of Taipei citizen.