Kensei Elementary School (postwar Taipei City Hall, now MOCA Taipei)

The building now known as the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MOCA Taipei) stands at No. 39, Chang'an West Road in Datong District, Taipei. Completed in 1921 during the Japanese colonial period, this two-storey red brick structure has served multiple institutional roles across a century of Taiwan's history — from colonial elementary school to post-war city government to contemporary art museum.

The building was originally constructed as the Kensei Elementary School (建成小學校, Kensei Jinjō Shōgakkō), established in March 1919 to serve Japanese children residing in the Taipei inner city (城內) and Dadaocheng (大稻埕) districts. The architectural design reflects the eclectic style prevalent in early twentieth-century colonial Taiwan, blending British-influenced red brick construction with Japanese institutional sensibilities. The symmetrical facade, central bell tower, and arched corridors are characteristic of Taisho-era educational and government architecture in the colony.

Following Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945 and the handover of Taiwan to the Republic of China, the Kensei Elementary School building was requisitioned for use as the Taipei City Government office (台北市政府), whose Japanese-era predecessor, the Taihoku City Office (台北市役所), had occupied the building that is now the Executive Yuan. For the next forty-nine years, this building served as the city's principal administrative headquarters, the seat from which mayors and municipal bureaucrats governed Taiwan's capital through the post-war period, the White Terror era, and the island's economic transformation. The building became one of Taipei's most recognisable landmarks, particularly its distinctive symmetrical facade and central bell tower visible along Chang'an West Road.

In 1994, the Taipei City Government relocated to the newly constructed Taipei City Hall in the Xinyi District. The vacated colonial-era building was designated a municipal historic site (市定古蹟) by the Taipei City Government in 1996, recognising its architectural and historical significance. Rather than leaving the building vacant, the city adopted a policy of adaptive reuse: the central main hall section was renovated and converted into the Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei (MOCA Taipei), while the two flanking wings continued to house Jiancheng Junior High School — creating the unique arrangement of a museum and school sharing the same historic structure.

MOCA Taipei opened to the public on 26 May 2001, becoming the first museum in Taiwan dedicated exclusively to contemporary art. The adaptive reuse project preserved the building's historic exterior and structural character while creating modern exhibition spaces within. Today the museum hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary art from Taiwan and around the world, offering a compelling dialogue between the building's colonial past and its present cultural mission. The site stands as one of the most successful examples of historic building preservation and adaptive reuse in Taiwan.