Department of Cultural Affairs

Yuanshan Villa

Built as a garden retreat by wealthy businessman and Tea Merchant Association founding chairman Chen Chaojun, Yuanshan Villa first served as a reception house and family gathering place. Originally, visitors reached the villa from the district of Dadaocheng by boat via the Tamsui and Keelung rivers. Dr. Sun Yat-sen once visited here while in Taiwan. The building has had a complicated history of ownership. For a time occupied by the Japanese military police, it was also the home of former Legislative Yuan president Huang Kuo-shu following World War II.
Constructed in the English Tudor style, a rarity in Taiwan, the villa’s first story is made of brick, the second story of wood. The posts and beams, exposed in the exterior wall, are carved in a tree-branch design. A semicircular balcony with neoclassical columns covers the entranceway, and the steeply sloping roof is graced with a central spired cupola. The intriguing rear staircase is built like a small tower, with curving eaves and arched Art Nouveau windows. Courtyards were once situated at the front and back.