During the Japanese colonial period, the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office reorganized Taiwan’s local administrative districts in 1920 and established Taichung Prefecture in central Taiwan. Its jurisdiction included Taichung City, Datun District, Fengyuan District, Dongshi District, Dajia District, Changhua District, Yuanlin District, Beidou District, Nantou District, Noko District, Niitaka District, and Chikusan District, covering the areas of today’s Taichung City, Changhua County, and Nantou County. As the prefectural capital, Taichung City was home to many government offices and a growing population, becoming the political, economic, and cultural center of central Taiwan. The main building project for Taichung Prefectural Hall was tendered on February 12, 1913 for a construction budget of 79,000 yen. The contract was awarded to Tadakichi Hamada, and construction began. The first phase of the Taichung government office building was completed on December 15, 1914, and administrative units began moving in. The second phase then started and was completed in July 1915. In September 1917, the Civil Engineering Bureau of the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office was designing the third phase. On March 15, 1918, Mikawa-gumi won the contract for the third phase of the Taichung government office building, and the third-phase expansion was completed on May 29, 1919. After the prefectural system was implemented on October 1, 1920, the Taichung government office building became Taichung Prefectural Hall. By 1934, the building had reached its current scale. The building adopts a street-corner layout, with the main entrance placed at the corner. Rich in ornate historicist features, its left and right wings extend backward like a pair of wings, fully expressing the grandeur of a government office. After World War II, the building was used as the office building of Taichung City Government.
On January 3, 2023, the “Restoration Project for the National Historic Site Taichung Prefectural Hall” was completed. On August 12, 2026, the main building works for the “Adaptive Reuse and Surrounding Landscape Project for the National Historic Site Taichung Prefectural Hall” were completed. On August 31, 2026, the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Taichung City Government began operating from Taichung Prefectural Hall.