Xinfuding Cultural Market

Ancillary buildings included a timber Japanese-style dormitory and a brick public toilet; the toilet marked the market's modernisation, but these were not fully preserved over time. In 1930 the Taipei Prefecture (臺北州) government issued the Foodstuffs Retail Market Regulations, setting detailed rules on the structure and layout of market buildings for reasons of hygiene. Against this background the Xinfu Foodstuffs Retail Market was built. The markets built in the same period, the Taipingding market (1938, since abolished), the Xingding market (1938, now Xing'an Market) and the Ruchuanding market (1938, now Zhixing Market), have all been rebuilt or abolished, which makes Xinfu Market a valuable example among Japanese-era public market buildings of the new hygiene standards and architectural style. When built, the site covered about 506 ping (about 1,673 m²) and the building about 199 ping (about 658 m²), and the site was enclosed by a red brick wall about 160 cm high. The walls of the main market hall are reinforced brick, the exterior has neat horizontal mouldings in washed-pebble plaster, each entrance has a canopy above it, and the roof is poured concrete supported by reinforced concrete beams. The style is simple, with little ornament, and highly functional. Its horseshoe-shaped plan is rare among Taiwan's public markets; it creates a smooth route for shoppers, and its central open court provides ventilation and daylight inside.

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