For 25 years from 1950, the modest two-storey white villa at Shilin was the home of Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling. The grounds — opened to the public after Madame Chiang's death in 2003 — are some of the most attractive landscaped gardens in Taipei: a large rose garden (with Madame Chiang's named cultivars), a Chinese garden, a chapel, and the formal European-style park surrounding the house.
The interior of the residence has been preserved much as it was lived in: 1950s Western furniture, Madame Chiang's painted Buddhist scrolls, and the dining room set for state guests. The annual Taipei Rose Festival (March) and Chrysanthemum Show (November) are timed to the garden's peak. Free entry to the gardens; small ticket for the residence.