Department of Cultural Affairs

Grass Mountain Teachers’ Training Center

Originally known as the Grass Mountain Public Recreational Gardens, this historical building was the most renowned public bathhouse in the Yangmingshan area when it was first built. At the time, the hot springs of Grass Mountain attracted visitors from near and far, and these facilities were constructed on a very large scale, divided into two bathing pools, for men and women, respectively. Its most distinguishing feature is the octagonal bathing pool. After World War II, the bathhouse became an office building for the Yangmingshan Management Bureau. Today it serves as a teachers’ training center for Taipei City. The building was constructed from locally obtained materials. The walls were built of blocks of andesite, the purple-gray tint of which matches the tiles of the building’s slanted roofs. Well-known craftsmen from Tamsui constructed the building. The arrangement of the stone blocks was influenced by Western architecture, and thus the bathhouse was originally renowned for its “foreign design.” It stands as valuable evidence of the history of Taiwan’s hot spring culture, and its application of building materials and architectural techniques.