Built in 1876, Yifangju Estate is located at No. 128, Lane 155, Keelung Road Section 3, Qingfeng Village, Da'an District, Taipei City. It is a mansion built by Chen Chao-Lai on the rim of the Taipei Basin in an area near the foothills of Mt. Chanchu, Mt. Fanglan, and Mt. Zhongpu previously called Xianeipu Zhuang.
Xianeipu was located on the rim to the south of today’s Da'an District in Taipei, covering the villages of Wolong, Huxiao, Fengchu, Qunying, Qunxian, Fanghe, Qingfeng, and Liyuan.
Chen Chao-Lai was nicknamed Jung-Lai and also known as Wu-Shan, and his ancestral home was in Xinkang Village in Quanzhou, Fujian. Chen was the foster-son of Chen Chen-Shih, a pioneer-immigrant who came to Taiwan.
Nicknamed Shuo and also known as Wen-Chun, Chen Chen-Shih was born in 1754 and died in 1820 at the age of 66. Chen Chen-Shih was born to a poor family and lived an impoverished life during his childhood. When he was nine, he accompanied some relations who were migrating to Taiwan.
At first, Chen was employed by Fanglan Ji Pier Company as a handyman. After years of hard work, he took over the operations of the pier company and gradually accumulated great wealth. In 1806, Chen Chen-Shih bought a piece of land and had a mansion built in Xianeipu, calling it “Fanglan House” to commemorate the company that had provided him with the opportunity to make a fortune and lay the foundations of the Chen family business in Taiwan. Five years after the building of Fanglan House, Chen’s eldest son died. To ensure his family prospered, Chen adopted a baby from his Chinese hometown—this was Chen Chao-Lai, just a few months old.
Chen Chao-Lai was born in 1820 and died in 1880 at the age of 60. Respecting his foster-father’s wishes, Chao-Lai engaged in farming and business at the same time. In his later years, he became successful in business. In 1876, he chose to build a sanheyuan (a traditional house consisting of three buildings surrounding a courtyard) in the western foothills of Mt. Fanglan and called it “Yifangju.” The name suggests farming with traditional values and virtues and residing at Fanglan for the prosperity of the family.
Yifangju faces northwest and is a simple residence with a single entrance and many chambers. A typical “Anxi house” of northern Taiwan, it consists of a front yard, the main building, the left and right wings (hulong, “protecting dragons”), and two parallel wings (waihu). This defensive architecture is one of the salient features of Yifangju Estate. On the four walls of the main building are twenty-four embrasures forming a strong barrier, suggestive of the poor state of publ