HISTORICAL CAFE

The Taipei City government has added two structures in the list of certified historical buildings, including the burial site of the Japanese general, Akashi Motojiro, and Astoria Cafe in Ximending.

With the upcoming urban renewal project of the Wu-chang Street, where the cafe is located,

Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs has agreed that the coffee shop can be partially renovated, as long as the elements of the cafe's interior decor and furniture are preserved in its original state.

The Astoria Cafe located in Wu-chang Street has been operating over 60 years, while the owner still preserves the original interior decorations of the cafe's second floor, including the red chairs, dark brown wooden tables and the soft yellow light.

A lot of famous authors used to sit here and write, making this coffee shop an important place in Taiwan's Literature.

And now the coffee shop has been assigned by the Taipei City's Department of Cultural Affairs as a historic building.

Still, as the urban renewal project is going on near the section 1 of the Wu-chang street, which will rebuild the old houses near the area into mansions for residence and offices.

Workers in the Astoria Cafe said that even though it is good that the coffee store is now a historic building certified by the city government, they worry that the coffee store can't be renovated along with the urban renewal project.

Still, the Department of Cultural Affairs said that the building is not categorized as a historical site, and it can still be partly renovated.

Another structure that has been assigned by the Taipei city government as the historic structure is the torii of the grave of the Japanese general, Akashi Motojiro.

The torii, which was built in Japanese colonial period was once relocated to the 228 park, is also the only torri in Taipei.

The city government will not relocate it after it becomes a historic structure.

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