Huashan 1914 Creative Park (華山1914文化創意產業園區, official site) is a Japanese-era winery and sake distillery in Taipei city that was spared destruction and converted into cultural and arts venue.
Ever since it first reopened as an arts center in the early 2000s, Huashan (as most locals call it) has remained one of Taipei’s top tourist attractions and coolest hangout spots.
Hushan is especially lively on weekends. A visit to Huashan might include a café or restaurant, pop-up exhibits, souvenir hunting, a film, performance, or concert, a photography session with ruins of the former factory as your backdrop, or an afternoon picnic in the large park at the back.
In this guide, I’ll tell you everything you need to know for planning a memorable visit to Huashan, including some background history, how to get there, a map with my recommended walking route, the main things to see and do, and where to eat or drink on site.
Huashan 1914 History: From Liquor to Leisure
As the name suggests, Huashan was established in 1914, during the period of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan (1895 to 1945).
Originally named Houji Distillery (芳醸株式会社酒造廠), and later Taihoku Distillery (Taipei Distillery or 臺北酒工場), the facility produced sake, plum wine, red wine, and other types of liquor. There was also a camphor refinery next to it and a brewery 500 meters to the east.
In 1945, when the Japanese left, the Republic of China’s Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau (today’s Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation or TTL) took over the facility.
The name “Taipei Distillery” stuck, while Takasago beer became “Taiwan Beer” (today the brewery is still open here under the name Jianguo Brewery).
Production at Taipei Distillery peaked in the 1960s, with a focus on rice wine and fruit wines. In 1987, due to rising land costs in the city center and pollution emitted by the factory, the site was abandoned and production was moved to a facility in Guishan district of Taoyuan city.
The original facility fell into disrepair and was slated for demolition. In the late 90s, local theater and arts groups started using it as an underground arts venue and lobbying the government to preserve it.
Their efforts were successful, and by 2003, the site gained official “cultural and creative park” designation.
In 2007, it was officially named Huashan 1914 Creative Park. The name Huashan (華山) comes from 樺山町 (Huashanding), the Japanese name of the district the factory was in when it first opened.
The success and popularity of Huashan has inspired many similar projects across Taiwan, repurposing decaying buildings or facilities into arts and culture venues. Here are some of the most notable ones:
- Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (Taipei): former tobacco factory and warehouses
- 44 South Military Village (Taipei): former military dependent’s village
- Cultural Heritage Park (Taichung): former brewery
- Guangfu New Village (Taichung): former military dependent’s village
- 321 Arts Village (Tainan): former village for Japanese officers
- Ten Drum Village (Tainan): former sugar processing facility
- Pier 2 Art Center (Kaohsiung): collection of former pier warehouses
- Dulan Sugar Factory (Taitung): former sugar factory
- Tourism Sugar Factory (Hualien): another sugar factory
- Cultural and Creative Industries Park (Hualien): former winery and distillery
Today, Huashan 1914 remains as popular as ever before. Locals flock there especially on weekends to do photoshoots, have lunch or a picnic, and check out the latest pop-ups and exhibits.
There’s no fee to enter Huashan, but there are many ways to spend your money inside. Most things in Huashan open around 10 AM.
What are “Pop-Ups”?
On my most recent visit (2025), I found that Huashan today is especially embracing the “pop-up” trend. There were nearly a dozen of these when I went.
If you’re not sure exactly what a pop-up is, these are temporary exhibit-stores that just “pop up” for a while.
At Huashan, most of these are focused on specific cartoons, anime characters, or films.
A few examples from the last time I visited include Snoopy, Spongebob Squarepants, Chiikawa, Gintama, Animage, and Korilakkuma.
Ones in the recent past have also included Sanrio & Hello Kitty, LINE Friends (characters from Taiwan’s most popular app), and Squid Games.
These are usually free to enter, and popular ones can even have long lines.
They are essentially shops selling cute products like stuffies, toys, and stickers, but then also usually have some cool posters, backdrops, statues, oversized stuffies, and so on – ideal backdrops for fans to take selfies.
To be totally honest, I don’t really care about these pop-ups and mostly skip them when I visit. For me, going to Huashan is more about exploring the heritage buildings or having some drinks in the sun with my friends on the lawn at the back.
I’m not into anime or cartoons. My kids are, but they are extremely specific about which ones they like, so they’d only care if one of those happened to be featured. For example, my kids couldn’t care less about Snoopy…
But locals in Taipei can’t get enough of them, and these shops surely make tons of money, so we can expect the pop-up trend to continue indefinitely at Huashan.
Getting to Huashan 1914
Huashan 1914 Creative Park occupies a plot of land between Zhongxiao East Road (between Shandao Temple and Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT stations on the Blue Line) and Civic Boulevard, two major east-to-west arteries in Taipei.
Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT station (Blue and Orange lines) is the closest MRT station. Take exit 1, but you’ll still need to walk about five minutes from there to the park.
Pro tip: Fu Hang Soy Milk, the most famous breakfast shop in Taipei, is a short walk from Huashan, next to Shandao Temple MRT. Consider having a late breakfast there before your visit to Huashan.
Things to See and Do at Huashan 1914
Below I’ll describe Huashan’s main buildings and things to do roughly in the order you will encounter them coming from the MRT.
The map above shows the walking route we’ll be taking from the MRT and through the site.
As you follow along, I’ll be referencing buildings as they are numbered on this map. This interactive map also gives a better idea of what the buildings actually look like.
Huashanding and Huashan Skatepark
On the walk to the park, at the intersection just before you cross under Xinsheng Elevated Road, there’s a building named Huashanding (華山町).
It is named after the district’s name during the Japanese period (you can still find the same Japanese “ding” in other Taipei neighborhoods like Ximending).
This isn’t a must-see, but the building does contain a cool hotel, Hua Shan Din by Cosmos Creation (see on Booking / Agoda), and on the backside, a café, restobar, bookstore, and more.
You’ll most likely bypass the building, but when crossing under the elevated road, take a quick peek at the street art and youths practicing their moves in the skatepark (新生高架橋下運動場, here) under it.
Huashan Forum
Huashan Forum (華山劇場) is the large outdoor space in front of the factory, facing Zhongxiao East Road.
This is where you will first arrive at Huashan. From here, you can enjoy a decent view of several factory buildings as well as the iconic smokestack, which we’ll visit closer-up below.
Huashan Forum serves as a performance space with seating as well as a venue for various events, fairs, and pop-up markets. If you visit on a weekend, there will almost always be something going on in this space.
If you’re standing in the forum and wondering what the factory buildings in front of you are, they are:
- Huashan Cultural and Creative Arch Hall (華山文創拱廳, building 中3A on the map), a former sake distillery, at the far left.
- The Tower Area in the middle (pictured above), which includes the High Tower Building (高塔區, a three-story cement former quality control building) on the left, a connecting two-story building with similar look (中1C) in the middle, and on the right a connecting single story red-brick building where fruit wines were produced (中1A).
- At the far right is a Garage Workshop (東1A).
Arts Boulevard
After admiring the factory view from Huashan Forum, begin your tour by strolling down Arts Boulevard (藝術大街) on the right side. The entrance is between buildings 東1A (above photo) and 中1A (below photo).
This was the original access road for cargo coming in and out of the factory. At the entrance, the former Fruit Wine Factory Buildings (red brick buildings 中1A and 中B) on your left contain gift shops (here and here, respectively).
On the right side, the former Vehicle Garage Workhouses (車庫工坊), buildings 東1A and 東1B, contain another gift shop and a restaurant with a lovely outdoor patio called Daylight (here).
As you continue down the boulevard, the large building on your left (中4) is the former Rice Wine and Red Wine Factory (紅酒米酒作業場).
When I last visited, this contained a couple cute pop-ups, including Snoopy and Ojamajo Doremi (see photo below).
Opposite the wine factory is Four Connected Buildings (四連棟, 東2A-D), which were mainly storage areas for wine.
It’s impossible to miss these, as the exterior of them is almost totally covered in a plant called Japanese ivy (爬牆虎). The ivy looks greener than in my photos in summertime (I shot these at the tail-end of winter).
These buildings are mainly spaces for rotating exhibits. When I last visited, there was an Art Nouveau exhibit taking place inside, with paid entry.
As you approach the end of Arts Boulevard, you’ll pass the former Compounded Liquor Factory (再製酒作業場, 中5A on the left), which now contains Legacy, one of the city’s best smaller concert venues (see concert listings here).
At the end is the Packaging Factory (包裝工場), which is a long tunnel with cool arched glass and metal ceiling.
Today it contains Spot Cinema (see what’s playing now here), Spot Café, and Spot store. In a minute, we’ll be walking through this tunnel to access the next area.
Finally, at the back right of Arts Boulevard is the former Plum Wine Factory (烏梅酒廠, 東3A-B), an orangish building that now contains Magic Box (exhibit space) and Umay Theater (performing arts theater, check for events here).
Central Art Park
After you pass the final buildings on Arts Boulevard, you’ll reach Central Art Park (中央藝文公園), also called Huashan Big Lawn (華山大草原).
This sprawling green space is larger than the factory grounds. It’s is a popular place for locals to have picnics or toss a ball around on weekends.
The eastern section of the park (close to where you are now) has an outdoor performance space with seating called Huashan Forest Forum (森林劇場).
Further west in the park, you’ll find some statues and art installations, food stalls (closer to Huashan Brick Lane, which we’ll get to at the end of the tour), and on weekends, the Taipei Hope Plaza Farmers’ Market (希望廣場農民市集, here).
The Middle Factory Lane
Once you’ve reached Central Arts Park at the end of Arts Boulevard, I suggest that you walk through the Packaging Factory (that long, tunnel-like building with arched glass and metal roof).
There’s still one more lane of cool factory buildings to explore. It doesn’t have an official name, so I’ve just called it the Middle Factory Lane. We’ll be walking from north to south through this lane.
Access to the “Middle Factory Lane” is a covered hallway opposite Spot store in the Packaging Factory. Watch for the scene in the below image.
Going down this hallway, you’ll first reach the former Broiler Room (鍋爐室, 中5B, here on the west side), now an exhibition space.
The tall ceiling in this room is especially cool. Huashan’s smokestack, which we’ll visit below, is on the backside of this building.
Next is a small building called the Power Distribution Room (配電室, 中4E), with restobar called Sip Sip Bar here across from it.
These are followed by the Distillation Chamber (蒸餾室, 中4C) on the west side, which now contains some craft shops.
On the east side of this lane, you’ll then reach Wooderful Life (知音文創華山店). GoogleMaps puts it here but that location is wrong. This is a wood-focused craft shop with some seriously cute products.
Unfortunately, this location no longer has an indoor playcenter. You’ll have to visit the Xindian, Lihpao, or Kaohsiung locations for that – read more about those in my Taipei DIY activities guide).
But the Huashan location does still have some very cute wooden toys, plant pots, and a small DIY craft area at the back. Kids can choose from a variety of wooden parts and glue them together.
Fun fact: there’s even a Wooderful Life-theme gate here at Taoyuan International Airport.
Just after WooderfulLife is Science Factory, a science-focused gift shop.
At the southern end of this lane, just before you come back to Huashan Forum at the front, there’s a cute Esther Bunny shop in building 中3b.
Beside it, there’s a branch of the famous bubble tea chain Chun Shui Tang (here) in buildings in 中1B.
Here you’ll also find a staircase going up to some elevated walkways where you can look down on the lane we just came down.
If you need a toilet, there’s one in the Visitor’s Center, which is inside the three-story cement High Tower Building at the front corner.
Huashan Cultural Hall and Smokestack
Now that we’re back at the front of Huashan, there’s one more building of note, which is the Huashan Cultural and Creative Arch Hall (華山文創拱廳, 中3A), or former sake distillery.
This building houses Alleycats Pizza (here), which stands out as my personal favorite spot to get a meal and/or beer at Huashan. You can enter Alleycats from the front of back side of the building, and there’s a small outdoor patio at the back.
This building also contains Picture Book Forest Bookstore (here) a forest-themed bookstore that also has some cute crafts and souvenirs.
Make your way north along the outside (west side) of these buildings to our final destination, Brick Lane (see final section below).
Building 中7B, a former Repair Factory, has more pop-ups and some banana trees on its west side.
Next you’ll reach the base of the Huashan Smokestack (煙囪), which also seems to be Huashan’s unofficial smoking area. I got some cool photos looking up at the smokestack and banyan tree beside it.
From here, I crossed the large parking lot to make my way to Brick Lane (see the final section below).
On the way, I got distracting taking some selfies in front of a cool old brick wall covered in the roots of banyan trees at its northern end of the parking lot.
Huashan Brick Lane
One final area worth checking out at Huashan is Brick Lane (紅磚六合院) – the Mandarin name translates as “brick six-sided courtyard house”. This is a reference to 三合院 (sanheyuan), or three-sided courtyard houses, a kind of traditional house common in Taiwan and Southern China.
On the map, these are buildings 西1 to 7-4.
This is the original camphor refinery, which was in operation until 1961. Taiwan once produced more than half the world’s camphor, until there were very few trees left.
The collection of brick buildings remaining at Brick Lane, to the northwest of the main factory area at Huashan, are particularly atmospheric and well-preserved.
Two highlights here are CHLIV (here), a gorgeous coffee shop with original brick walls, and Vinyl Decision (here), a hip bar with walls of records and occasional live music performances.
When I last visited, there were a few more popups over here, includes ones on Gintama Circus and Magical Chiikawa.
Congrats if you made it this far. I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour of Huashan 1914 Creative Park! Now make your way back to the MRT, grab a beer at one of the bars on site, or head over to nearby Syntrend for electronics shopping!