Daqiao Church (original site of Fangxi Church)

Dr Mackay considered Fangxi Church the most beautiful of the stone churches he designed. In 1915, as the congregation grew and the church became too small, elder Li Chunsheng paid on his own for a new chapel in Dadaocheng. The Fangxi congregation moved to the new site, and the church was renamed Dadaocheng Church. The old Fangxi site was then rented out, first as a Japanese language school and then as the 寶香齋 cake factory. The site stood unused until the 1950s, when 孫理蓮 (Sun Lilian), a pastor's wife, thought it a pity to leave it derelict and encouraged Taiwan's Presbyterian church (台灣基督長老會) to rebuild a church here. The new church was completed in 1956 and began holding services under the name Daqiao Church. The church has been rebuilt several times. Only the north building and the outer stone wall remain from the original Fangxi Church, the only physical evidence of Mackay's mission work left in Taipei. You can still see the thick walls of Qili'an stone and the classical pointed-arch doors and windows. On the south side of the church are imitation Roman columns and vase balusters in washed granolithic finish from the cake factory period, and pierced balustrades of fair-faced red brick.

Translated and shortened by DealTaipei from Taiwan's national tourism database. Sources are on the terms page.