Travel to OLD SHELL WAREHOUSES
Very seldom people goto this travel spot – old shell warehouse
These superbly preserved buildings – also known as the Van Gass trading house storerooms – were built in the 1860s, and cover an area of more than 10,000 square meters. In 1897, they were purchased by British Shell Petroleum Co.
In April 2001, Shell donated them to the Tamsui Cultural Foundation.By June 2001, they were declared as an historical site by Taipei County Government. The site is now shared by the Cultural Foundation and Danshuei Community University.
Located right next to Danshuei MRT Station, the four larger warehouses (which have unusually thick brick walls) and three smaller buildings are relics of the treaty port era. Between 1858 and 1895, when Japan took Taiwan over, Western traders enjoyed special rights and protections in Tamsui (as Danshuei was then known).
The Van Gass trading house built oil tanks there, and began dealing in petroleum products. Locals would could to buy kerosene.
In the early years, small tankers would pull right up to docks here to unload their cargo. The oil tanks were destroyed in World War II during US bombing raids, and were never rebuilt.
After 1945, the land became the property of the central government, but the warehouses themselves belonged to Shell.
The warehouses are not formally open to casual visitors, but a polite request based on a genuine interest in the building’s history will usually do the trick.
If you do look inside the building nearest the riverside, you’ll see old wooden and ceramic items (many of them fragments from temples) being restored.
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Address: No. 22, Bitou Street, Danshuei
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TEL: (02) 2622-1928
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Open Time 2 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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Public Transit: If you arrive by MRT, turn left, then follow the road under the MRT tracks. You’ll see the warehouses in front of you, by the cycle path.
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Personal Transit Driving to and parking near the Old Shell Warehouses is virtually impossible. Use the MRT or buses.
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