The Kansai Electric Power Company (KEPCO) announced that they will be demolishing and rebuilding their former head office in Osaka from April 2012. Completion of the new building is scheduled for April, 2014.

Due to aging and inadequate earthquake resistance, the building has not been in use since 2009. The building is owned by Kanden Fudosan, the real estate branch of Kepco.

The building was originally the head office of Ujigawa Denki, one of Japan’s very first electricity supply companies. It was designed by architect Eikichi Hasebe and completed in 1937. Hasebe designed many European-style office buildings in Osaka including the Sumitomo Building in Tosabori. The building was designed in ‘showa modern’ style and features a tiled exterior with reliefs of goddesses. It was an ‘all electric’ building that did not have chimneys. The construction costs were 2.3 million Yen. Between 1951 and 1960 it was used as Kepco’s head office. Afterwards it was leased out to corporate tenants.

Location: 4-8-17 Nishitenma, Kita-ku, Osaka

Source: The Denki Shimbun, February 9, 2012.

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