Historic hotel in Takarazuka to be demolished
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings plan to demolish the historic Takarazuka Hotel in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, and will build a new hotel in a separate location nearby.
The 5-storey hotel opened in 1926. It was developed by Ichizo Kobayashi, the founder of Hankyu Railway, the Takarazuka Revue and Toho, and local industrialist Kaemon Hiratsuka. Hankyu acquired the hotel a few years after it opened.Read more
Historic 84-year old apartment building in Chuo-ku under demolition
The historic Shokin Apaato in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, is being demolished to make way for a 13-storey mixed-use office and residential building.
Shokin Apaato was built in 1931, around the same time as the Dojunkai apartments. The 5-storey, reinforced concrete building was occupied by tenants up until 2013. The owner decided to rebuild as the building does not meet earthquake-resistant standards and has become too costly to maintain.Read more
Yokosuka City forcibly demolishes abandoned home
Yokosuka City began the forced demolition of an abandoned home in Higashiuraga on March 13. This is the first forced demolition to be carried out in Kanagawa Prefecture and the third in Japan.
The wooden house, which was built sometime between the Taisho and early Showa periods, had a total floor area of 25 sqm. It was in a serious state of decay, with exterior cladding and doors coming loose in past typhoons. It became vacant after the owner passed away in 1988.
In 2012 the city received a complaint about the house and had repeatedly tried to contact relatives of the current owners, but with no success. The owners of the house did not own the land, and since the house did not appear on any cadastral maps, the heirs were not subject to annual property taxes.
The house was considered a hazard to the locals who often use the pathway running in front of the house as a shortcut to the station, and in December 2014 a removal order was issued. Read more
Historic home in Kunitachi open to public before demolition
A historic home in Kunitachi City, Western Tokyo, will be open to the public for a viewing on February 8 and 9 before it is demolished.
The Takada Residence was built in 1929 ~ 1930 by physician and author Giichirou Takada. Mr. Takada moved his family from their former residence in the Akasaka Tameikesanno area in order for his eldest son to attend school in Kunitachi. This home would have been one of the original homes built when the suburb was developed in the 1920s.
The 2-storey wooden house sits on a 600 sqm block of land. It has a concrete basement (used as archives) and the house was equipped with steam heating.
Demolition is scheduled to begin at the end of March 2015.Read more
Bottega Veneta joins fight to save Hotel Okura
Fashion and architecture go hand in hand, and pieces designed by some of the great designers can remain timeless for generations. Tomas Maier, the creative director of Italian fashion house Bottega Veneta, is hoping to spread awareness of some of Japan’s modernist architecture that is at risk of being demolished and lost forever. Of particular interest in Maier's campaign is the Hotel Okura Tokyo, designed by Yoshio Taniguchi and completed in 1962, which is scheduled to close and be demolished later this year.Read more
Historic former library in Kamakura to be demolished
On January 5, Kamakura City announced plans to demolish a historic property that was originally the Kamakura City Library, and until recently had been used as a training center.
The 2-storey wooden building was completed in 1936. It is located between the Onarimachi’s local city office and the Onari Elementary School and is 200 meters west of Kamakura Station. Aside from a brief period during the war when it was confiscated by the military, the building had been was used a library until 1974. Afterwards it had been used by the city’s Board of Education for a variety of uses.Read more
Omotesando public housing site to be redeveloped
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced plans to redevelop the Aoyama Kitamachi Apaato, a city-operated public housing complex located near Omotesando Station and just behind Aoyama Dori Street.
The four hectare site currently contains 25 residential blocks built between 1957 and 1968. This project was said to be the first post-war city housing in Tokyo. Apartments ranged in size from 32 ~ 52 sqm. The 4 and 5 storey buildings have no elevators and some of the buildings did not have bathrooms (bathroom units were added to the balconies later).Read more