The Ministry of Culture has designated the Taipei Railway Workshop as a national cultural heritage site, a move that is being hailed as a victory by cultural preservation groups.

The Taipei Railway Workshop dates from the 1930’s, and was considered the most important railway maintenance depot in Taiwan.

Activists point to the compound’s architectural features, which include an engine room and a Japanese-style bath house, as well as plentiful vegetation.

The decision halts development plans proposed by former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s administration, which would have seen more than half of the 17-hectare plot turned over to commercial use.

The Cultural Heritage Bureau says that the compound would be preserved in its entirety, while the historic workshop itself would be renovated to house a railway museum.

 

photos via Jennifer 真泥佛