Once the hottest bridal shop in southern Taiwan, now transformed by a local youth returning home into a cozy lodging

▲The preserved double bed from the past becomes an eye-catching feature in the room.

Reported and photographed by Reporter You T●ru / Kaohsiung

A charming old house lodging tucked between streets, its irregular lattice design becoming the star of the visual appeal. Located in Kaohsiung’s Yancheng District—an old neighborhood that once bustled with prosperity—this site was home to a wildly popular bridal boutique in southern Taiwan back in the 1950s. Now taken over and renovated by young entrepreneurs, the interwoven room layouts and spatial designs burst with energy and are well worth a stay.


▲%The room’s design and spatial layout exude strong character, echoing the weight of decades past.
 

“Sanba Lüju” (38 Residences) gives off a rather unique vibe, as if suspended in a space-time between modernity and the past, forming a parallel line in the air. The way sunlight refracts into the interior also adds a delicate touch. The owner, Qiu Chenghan, says this place was once his grandmother’s “Zhengmei Bridal Shop,” so at the first-floor entrance you can still see a full white wedding gown. “Back in the 1950s, not many people could afford a white wedding dress, but the bridal shop was extremely popular at the time.”

When the shop first opened, it was housed in a wooden building. The structure was later rebuilt with concrete in 1975. “Zhengmei Bridal Shop” was once the most popular bridal company in southern Taiwan, hosting around five wedding dress shows a month, with all sorts of local gentry and socialites coming through its doors. As times changed, the bridal shop relocated, leaving the original site vacant. Qiu Chenghan, who had been working in finance in Taipei, decided to return home and take over his grandmother’s old bridal shop to transform it. “Only after coming back did I feel it was a journey of self-discovery.”


▲“This is the bar counter that used to be in my grandparents’ room,” Qiu Chenghan says.


▲Reading area where guests can pick up books to read in their rooms.


▲%The distinctive sleeping area preserves the charm of decades past.


“I simply wanted to preserve the history and beauty of Yancheng,” Qiu Chenghan recalls, remembering how he once lived upstairs from Zhengmei Bridal while the downstairs teemed with passerby. “During the design process, we found some old wooden boxes and furniture left behind and decided to keep them.” Though wanting to retain historical memories, he didn’t want the place to simply look like a reborn bridal shop. So Qiu conducted major demolition work inside the house, letting in sunlight and reconfiguring the rooms. The only original structure retained throughout the entire building is an old glass door. “Conveying clear elements without being too literal—that’s my philosophy.”

The name “Sanba Lüju” stems from the age gap between generations, a twist that carries the warmth of family bonds—a key memory crystallized in the architecture itself. Each room here holds its own inherited story. The old bridal shop’s legacy sometimes lingers in a painting inside the room, or perhaps a single hanger. “The room doesn’t need to look too much like a bridal shop. As long as it can subtly convey that essence, the rest is up to the traveler’s imagination.”
 
Sanba Lüju
Address: No. 226, Wufu 4th Road, Yancheng District, Kaohsiung City
Phone: (07)5215938
Email: thirtyeighty.38@gmail.com.