馬偕古厝(1875)
這棟英國人稱為bungalow形式的建築,是1875年馬偕博士所建造的寓所。座落於蓊鬱青翠的埔頂,四望淡水山河美景。而這擁有優雅三面迴廊的白 堊洋樓馬偕博士還在建物後方加蓋「讀書樓」作為讀書研究之用。他亦在此娶妻生子,馬偕故居甚至成為馬偕博士開拓宣教的重要基地,直到1901年馬偕博士病 逝為止。 馬偕博士逝世後,華羅德牧師和宋雅各醫師等宣教師曾在此短暫居住。1912年馬偕博士獨子偕叡廉先生回台創辦淡江中學,再度以此故居作為校長寓所,直至 1941年才因戰爭返國。 馬偕故居在二次大戰時,教會曾設「安樂家」,以收留失依婦女,爾後成為淡江中學男生宿舍。戰後,偕叡廉先生再度回淡水居住於此直至1952年。1965年 真理大學創校後輾轉成為圖書館、實習旅館和學人招待所,馬偕家族返台也都下榻於此,本建築可謂馬偕博士家族紀念建築。
Reverend Mackay’s Residence Elegantly situated on the lush, green hill of Bo-Dieng and overlooking the astonishing scenery of Tamsui, this stylistic bungalow was once the residence of the Reverend George Leslie Mackay. Designed and built in 1875 by Mackay himself, the house has three porches with an addition on the back as a study. Mackay started his family and enjoyed his missionary life here until he passed in 1901. Afterwards, the Mackay home became the temporary residence of the Reverend Thurlow Fraser and the Reverend J. Y. Ferguson. In 1912, Mackay’s only son, the Reverend George William Mackay, returned to Taiwan from Canada and founded Tamkang High School, taking possession of the family residence until 1941 when he returned to Canada because of W.W. II. As the War raged, and at the bequest of the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan, The Mackay home became An-Lok Home, literally “The House of Well-Being,” a shelter for homeless women and later the boy’s dormitory of Tamkang High School. After the War ended, the Reverend George William Mackay relocated from Canada to Taiwan once again, retiring in 1952. In 1965, Tamsui Oxford College (now Aletheia University) was founded and the house served as a library, then an internship hotel, and finally a guest house for the college. Members of the Mackay family would stay here when visiting Tamsui, the house retaining deep and long-lasting symbolic importance for Mackay’s posterity.