The Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) is an old trading warehouse that banyan trees have slowly taken over, until roots, walls and canopy became one thing. Walkways lead you through the roofless rooms and up among the treetops. Right beside it, on the same ticket, the white colonial Tait & Co. Merchant House (英商德記洋行) tells the story of the foreign trading houses that made Anping rich. Together they make an easy, unforgettable hour.
The history
Anping opened to foreign trade in 1865, and the trading houses followed. In 1867 British merchants set up Tait & Co. (德記洋行) in Anping, dealing mainly in opium, camphor and sugar. With four other firms it was one of the Five Trading Houses of Anping (安平五大洋行), and today only Tait & Co. and the German Tong Hing building survive.
After Japan took Taiwan in 1895, the trade in opium and camphor became a government monopoly and the harbor kept silting up. Many firms left, but Tait & Co. carried on until 1911, when the building was turned over to the salt industry. After the war it became the offices of the Tainan Salt Field. In 1979 the city restored the merchant house and opened it as a wax museum of Taiwan's pioneer history.
The Tree House was the warehouse behind it. The city's tourism site dates it to around the end of the 19th century, at the start of the Japanese era, and says it later served as a warehouse for the Japanese salt company, which enlarged it to its present size. Once the salt trade ended, the building was left to the trees.
What it's like
Over more than a century, banyan roots have poured over and through the brick walls, and the tree tops now form a living roof. You walk along the gaps between trunks and then up onto raised walkways among the branches, looking down into rooms where the walls are held together by roots. The light comes through in pieces, and squirrels and birds live in the branches. There's a small coffee shop on site that sells ice cream.
The Tait & Co. Merchant House today
The two-storey merchant house, a city monument, has a grand front staircase, arcades on three sides, timber trusses, a tiled roof and white lime walls. It was restored over about six months and reopened in April 2025 with a new permanent exhibition, Anping 1865 (Anping 1865：回望安平商貿的黃金年代), about the golden age of Anping's trade. One request from the city: use the stamp stations only on paper. Visitors stamping the restored walls and tables in 2025 left marks that need craftsmen to clean.
Good to know
- Hours: 08:30 to 17:30 daily, including national holidays
- Entry: NT$70 full price, NT$35 half price, free for Tainan residents with ID. The same free and half-price groups apply as at Anping Old Fort. One ticket covers the Tree House and the merchant house.
- Address: beside No. 108, Gubao St, Anping District (臺南市安平區古堡街108號旁)
- Getting there: bus 102 from Tainan Station to the Anping Old Fort stop, then a short walk. It's also a short walk from Anping Old Fort.
Tips
- Late afternoon light is lovely here, but the gates close at 17:30, so don't leave it until sunset.
- For the 2026 historic sites pass, see the fort guide. → Anping Old Fort guide
→ Anping half-day plan · Anping guide
Sources
History, hours and tickets: Tainan Cultural Affairs Bureau, historic sites (Anping Tree House page and visitor information) and Travel Tainan. Merchant house restoration and exhibition: CNA (June 2025). Checked October 2026.