Department of Cultural Affairs

The Lin House, Mengjia

Built in 1932. The original owner Lin Xibao began life as a farmer and first began to amass wealth by operating a mobile kiosk. He bought land and built this residential building to be used as living quarters for his extended family and as storage space. The eldest son of the Lin family, Lin Hongma, enjoyed a reputation of being sincere and amiable, and served as a neighborhood administrator during the Japanese colonial period. The family later started the Lin Eshui Company, engaging in the wholesale and retail sale of fruits and vegetables, a new industry at that time. The company became the specially designated supplier to such government agencies as the Governor's Mansion (today the Presidential Palace), the Taiwan Railway Administration, the Taipei City Government and the Monopoly Bureau (what later became the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau). The family business prospered, and at its height about 50 people lived in the Lin house.
The Lin House of Mengjia faced Xiyuan Road, and on the west bordered a railway line (now underground). In accordance with city street plans, the main entrance was built to slant inward, a unique design. The first floor, with a main living room, a dining room and a kitchen, was the family's gathering place. The second and third floors held bedrooms. On the north side of the fourth-floor roof was an ancestral shrine facing south. The Lin House was carefully and exquisitely constructed, combining different Chinese, Western and Japanese architectural styles. On July 11, 2000, the Lin House was designated Taipei City's 96th official historical site.