Despite the best efforts of architects and historians from across the country, the owner of the Former Mitsui Bussan Yokohama Warehouse in downtown Yokohama is pushing ahead with demolition.
On November 5, a notice was posted outside the 104-year old building indicating the start of demolition. The building will be completely razed by mid-February 2015. The owner, Tokyo-based real estate and expat leasing company Ken Corporation, has ignored pleas from various preservation groups.
The Former Mitsui Bussan Yokohama Warehouse was designed by Oto Endo and built in 1910. Endo was a pioneer in designing reinforced-concrete buildings and this was one of the earliest structures in Japan to incorporate RC in the construction. He also designed the adjoining Mitsui Bussan Yokohama Office Building in 1911, which was the first building in the country to be built entirely out of reinforced concrete. The two buildings formed an important part of Yokohama’s silk trade, and the warehouse was used for the storage of silk.