Qing Shui Elementary School

A historic red brick elementary school

Qing Shui Elementary School, formerly a Japanese public elementary school, was moved to its present location in 1935. The classroom building retains its U-shaped design and Japanese Baroque style, and is built using the gauged brickwork method. The circular arches, white pillar corridors, and red brick clock tower all testify the school’s passage through time, making it the first monument-class elementary school in Taiwan.

Typical Japanese-style dormitory buildings feature either a four-pitched or two-pitched sloping roof, covered with black tiles, cylinder tiles, and onigawara (ogre tiles). The roof ridge is adorned with air vents, complemented by sliding doors with horizontal lattices or diamond-shaped lattice windows. The intricate details of the Japanese-style architecture transport people back to the era of Japanese colonial rule, evoking a sense of nostalgia.