the beitou hot spring museum, formerly known as the “beitou public bath”, was commissioned by daikichi imura, the head of the japanese government office, and supervised by the architect of the governor’s palace, matsunosuke moriyama, and completed on june 17, 1913 (taisho ii), as a two-storey building in the eclectic style of the japanese empire, and the largest hot spring public bath in east asia at that time. the bath area on the first floor is made of brick, the rest area on the second floor is made of wood, and the entrance is located on the second floor.
the bath used the public health funds of the taipei state hall at that time to model itself on the izusan hot spring bathing site in shizuoka prefecture, japan. the relaxation area on the second floor features a gazebo, a shoe changing hall, and a tatami hall where visitors can cool off after a bath. there is also a prominent platform watchtower next to the hall, where you can enjoy the scenery of beitou mountain and water. meals and drinks are also sold indoors, and sometimes even art performances are arranged. in 1923 (taisho 12), crown prince hirohito of japan arrived in taiwan to inspect, and also visited the public baths in beitou and inspected the beitou stone in the creek. for this reason, the bathhouse also added an “imperial rest hall” on the second floor for its rest, which is located in the audiovisual room of the current wenbo museum.
during the japanese occupation period, after descending the stairs, tang guests can go to the bath area on the first floor to change clothes and soak in the bath (currently there is no bathing service as a museum). the main feature of the first floor is the large roman-style bath, which is mainly composed of male guests, surrounded by round arch columns, and the mosaic stained glass window flowers on the wall of the cloister on the outside of the bath, which together create a very bright and gorgeous bath atmosphere. on the other side of the large bath, there is a small bath, which was a place for women and children at that time, and there is also a separate bathroom and lounge for important guests. overall, beitou public baths can be described as an extremely important public leisure and entertainment venue in the history of the development of beitou hot springs.
after world war ii, the public baths were used as zhongshan hall, taipei county council guest house, people’s service office, civil defense headquarters and guangming police station, but were eventually abandoned due to the change of management units. until 1994, a group of beitou elementary school teachers and students found the ruined beitou public baths in the process of teaching outside the school. in order to preserve the monuments and reuse the space, the children, community residents and cultural and historical workers jointly signed a letter of love, hoping to preserve the baths. after continuous communication and coordination, beitou public baths was finally announced by the ministry of the interior as a grade iii monument (now a municipal monument) in 1997, and on october 31, 1998, under the investment of local residents and the taipei municipal government, it was officially reopened under the name of “beitou hot spring museum”.