Triple Intervention
Following the First Sino-Japanese War, the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded the island of Formosa (as well as the Pescadores) to the Empire of Japan. Although the Treaty prompted the Triple Intervention by Russia, Germany, and France it appears to have had little effect on Britain, and thus no major events took place at the consulate at this time. In 1909, however, the Japanese government of Taiwan claimed the right to all foreign consulates in Taiwan and the British consulate was closed the next year. In 1931 the building was converted into an "Ocean Observatory" by the Japanese viceroy.