Grand Hotel Taipei

Posted by: Denis Rajic at 30 Oct 2009

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Review of Asia

My first blog the way I have envisioned it, it would be half travel, half review of architecture that I see in my travels around the world. For the next few years I will give you a review of Asia. Since I am currently living in Taipei, home to Taipei 101 the third tallest building in the world, my blog will for the most part be a look at Asian architectural styles both modern and traditional.

I know I could have started my blog with the tallest building, but that would be more or less a loss to us all. Let's first explore the back streets of Taipei. Let us see what this modern dynamic Asian city has to offer before we delve deeper in to its crown jewel. Taipei is situated in the northern part of Taiwan. Han Chinese settled it in the 1700, making it younger then Sarajevo. The cultural mixture of Taipei makes it an interesting case study at ethno-based architecture. The city was for a period part of the Japanese Empire, which left many colonial style buildings that currently house government offices. After the collapse of the Nationalist lead government on the mainland, Taipei became the center of the Republic of China. Current population is near three million people. The city is surrounded by mountains and is located in a basin with a number of rivers and tributaries streaming through.

I have been living in the city for the last three months; on the main artery road know as DunHwa, in what is considered the older business district of Daan. So far I have seen a number of interesting structures and designs, but the one that I wish to write about today is the Grand Hotel, know as Yuanshan Hotel. Built in 1973 to house visiting dignitaries the hotel is an example of traditional Chinese architecture on a grand scale. The hotel was commissioned by then Chinese leader Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and designed by Yang Cho-Cheng (1914-2006) who built other representational buildings in Taipei in an attempt to improve Taiwan’s image. The building was designed on location to provide easy access for the Generalissimo and his guests.

The entrance to the Hotel is through the main gate; designed in traditional Chinese architectural style the gate symbolizes harmony and grandeur of imperial China



The first view of the hotel is of symmetry and proportion. The large red tiled roof is the largest roof of its kind created in style of traditional Chinese architecture, with 8 guest levels that represent 8 imperial dynasties, with a total of 490 rooms.





The walk up to the main entrance is done to evoke symmetrical splendor of the Forbidden City on the mainland. Two large lions flank the entrance to protect the guests from evil.



The striking thing about the hotel is just the proportion that it took traditional Chinese architecture. Which is more a study in simplicity and symmetry then it is a study in height. This is the first thing that strikes the visitor is this lack of proportion, looking at the hotel one gets a feeling that it is to large for the style that it was trying to evoke,





The main entrance, with the grand lobby is covered with dragons and the color red, which is considered a fortunate color in Chinese tradition. While I was there part of the lobby was blocked off and under renovation. In the middle is a large table and above a mural done with gold motif with imperial dragons in a circle.



A closer look at the motif will see that the dragons are painstakingly carved and covered with golden relief to signify to the guests the opulence of the hotel.



Currently the location of the hotel on the outskirts of downtown and its inaccessibility makes it somewhat of an avoided tourist trap. It still carries within it the richness of the Generalissimos attempts to impress the world, but the hotel is slowly decaying. The huge cost of upkeep and the location make it an economic mistake on the part of the regime. As a symbol it is still a dominant attraction on the cities tourist map even though it will take you a ways to get there.