Taichung Broadcasting Bureau

The Taichung Broadcasting Bureau, located in the North District of Taichung City, is a radio station building constructed in 1935. During the Japanese colonial period, it served as the broadcasting agency of the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office. After World War II, it was repurposed as the Taiwan Broadcasting Station of the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC Taiwan). Today, it is designated as a historic building of Taichung City and has been revitalized through exhibitions and cultural activities, making it one of the city’s important cultural venues.

The building covers an area of approximately 4,261 square meters. At the entrance, one can still find a machine gun sentry post and an air-raid shelter built for wartime defense needs. The main structure, painted in a warm yellow tone and roofed with dark gray Japanese-style tiles, consists of front and rear wings. Its façade adopts a Romanesque-inspired style, incorporating simplified Gothic, Baroque, and Islamic geometric decorative elements, creating a unique “transitional-style” architecture. Notable features include the grand arched entrance, windows alternating between flat and round arches, battlement-like parapets reminiscent of castles, and a central cylindrical staircase tower, all contributing to a strong European atmosphere. On the second-floor balcony, the “BCC” emblem and Taichung City’s emblem from the Japanese era are still preserved.

In addition to the main building, the Broadcasting Bureau also features a Japanese-style garden. The courtyard pond is planted with irises, reflecting the architecture in its waters, which becomes especially serene and beautiful under the glow of the setting sun. In 2001, it was selected as one of the “Top Ten Historic Buildings in the Counties and Cities of the Republic of China,” ranking eighth alongside Baojue Zen Temple.

The Taichung Broadcasting Bureau is not only a historic building but has also become a popular location for cultural exhibitions and film shoots in recent years. The chapel scene of the heroine practicing piano in the idol drama Autumn’s Concerto (下一站幸福), as well as the hospital scenes in Sunny Happiness (福氣又安康), were both filmed here.