Guo Ziyi Memorial Hall (Neihu Red House)

At that time Taiwanese society was stable and the economy was good, and the style of official buildings influenced private houses: the shophouse façades on Dihua Street in Taipei, for example, commonly used elaborate Baroque decoration, with red brick, washed-pebble plaster, moulded clay and coloured tiles, a style also called Taisho-style architecture. The Guo residence in Neihu is a typical grand house of this period. The old house sits halfway up a small hill facing south, with woods on three sides. Its plan is roughly T-shaped, and it is built entirely of brick and timber. The outer walls are of the red brick popular in the Taisho era, decorated with washed-pebble plaster and coloured tiles imported from Japan. The upper floors are timber, their weight carried by many wooden beams, and there are lantern beams from which a traditional Taiwanese Tiangong (Lord of Heaven) incense burner and lanterns can be hung. The windows on the main façade vary in form, a curved balcony projects from it, and the gable is close to a neo-Baroque style, with scrolling foliage curves. The gable bears the inscription Bifeng Temple (碧奉宮) because of a plan to turn the house into a temple, which was never carried out.

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