In 1883, the Navy’s deputy general Wang Fu-lu, hired a British engineer to build a brick lighthouse south of the port on Chihou Mountain. The lighthouse housed a single core fixed light with a projected beam of approximately 10 miles. During the Japanese era, with the port’s continuous progress, the lighthouse’s faint projection became relatively insufficient. In 1916, the official construction of a new lighthouse began, opening two years later as the first electric lighthouse facility in Taiwan. Kaohsiung Lighthouse is a brick structure built partially with reinforced concrete. The main building is an octagonal lighthouse connected to the square office space. Its appearance shows Western influence, with the cut lines imitating stonework and decorative arches, window sills and a horizontal belt, creating a sense of solid stability. A triangular gable sits on the center of the façade, with wall columns and double brackets to emphasize the entrance image. Sadly, most of the original decorative molding was lost to post-war renovations; only the base of the original lamp house remains. In 1926 it was converted into a minimalistic designed two-story secondary light, with historical traces only seen in the entrance threshold and balcony brackets.
旗津/旗後燈塔
打狗港於1864年正式開港後,商船往來日漸繁多,由於出入港門的航道中礁石頗多,夜間船隻進出的導航設施更形重要。1883年由水師副將王福祿聘英籍工程師,於港門南側的旗後山上興建磚造「燈房」,內設六等單蕊定光燈,見距約10浬。時至日本時代,隨著港口建設的進展,舊有燈房的微弱燈光相對不足,1916年官方著手興建新燈塔,兩年後完工點燈,為臺灣第一座使用電燈設施的燈塔。
旗後燈塔主要為磚造結構,搭配部分鋼筋混凝土材料,本體為八角形燈塔與四方形辦公空間相連之格局。外觀受到西洋歷史式樣影響,以切割線條模仿石砌質感,加上拱心石、窗台石與橫飾帶之裝飾,形塑整體建築的厚實感。立面中央設有三角山牆,搭配附壁柱及雙托座,用以強調入口意象,惜歷經戰後的整修,已不見許多線腳細節。而最初的燈房今僅存基座,1926年已改建為二樓高之副燈,造型簡潔,僅入口門楣與陽台托座有歷史主義的遺緒。