Hayashi Department Store
Notable Building in Tainan.
This art deco department store from the 1930s has been so beautifully restored that it's worth going in just to ascend the sweeping staircase, peer through the geometrical window openings, and have a ride on the grandma lift with the dial floor indicator. There's even a viewing deck on the top floor where you'll find a Shinto shrine and evidence of the damage it suffered during WWII.
Known locally as Lin's Department Store (林百貨) or Five Stories (五層樓), Hayashi was Tainan's first department store and Taiwan's second when it opened in 1932, and is therefore close to the hearts of older Tainaners. Everyone wanted to ride on its lift even if they couldn't afford the goods. Earnings made by the store were delivered just across the road to the neoclassical Nippon Kangyo Bank, predecessor of the Land Bank. In the 1930s Hayashi was doing so well that locals joked that to bring the money somewhere further away would be too risky. The duo were the cornerstones of Tainan's most affluent area.
www.lonelyplanet.com/taiwan/southern-taiwan/tainan-city/a...
Hayashi Department Store
Notable Building in Tainan.
This art deco department store from the 1930s has been so beautifully restored that it's worth going in just to ascend the sweeping staircase, peer through the geometrical window openings, and have a ride on the grandma lift with the dial floor indicator. There's even a viewing deck on the top floor where you'll find a Shinto shrine and evidence of the damage it suffered during WWII.
Known locally as Lin's Department Store (林百貨) or Five Stories (五層樓), Hayashi was Tainan's first department store and Taiwan's second when it opened in 1932, and is therefore close to the hearts of older Tainaners. Everyone wanted to ride on its lift even if they couldn't afford the goods. Earnings made by the store were delivered just across the road to the neoclassical Nippon Kangyo Bank, predecessor of the Land Bank. In the 1930s Hayashi was doing so well that locals joked that to bring the money somewhere further away would be too risky. The duo were the cornerstones of Tainan's most affluent area.
www.lonelyplanet.com/taiwan/southern-taiwan/tainan-city/a...