Teishin-sho (Ministry of Communications), Tsukiji, c. 1900.



1900sArchitecture
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The first Teishin-sho (Ministry of Communications), Tsukiji, Tokyo, c. 1900, designed by a pioneer Japanese Western architect, Hayashi Chujo, would be replaced in 1910 by a new ministry building at Tsujiki designed by Satachi Shichijiro, a university classmate of Tatsuno Kingo.

See also:
Tsukiji (Foreign Settlement), c. 1900
Seiyoken Hotel, Tsukiji, c. 1910
Rikkyo Daigaku (St. Paul’s University)
St. Luke’s International Hospital, c. 1945-1950
Ministry of Communications, c. 1910.

“Full-fledged construction in such foreign materials as brick was of course impossible for the early Japanese architects, and they compromised by exploiting materials easily obtainable in Japan. This semi-foreign style thus featured a timber frame construction, faced with stone or stucco, and frequently the outer walls were decorated with tiles and semicircular joints, or faced with clapboards.

“… [A] pioneer architect of the early Meiji Era was Hayashi Chujo, who had come to Yokohama as a carpenter in 1865, and studied architecture under English and American craftsmen. Later, as architect for the Public Works Bureau, he erected many buildings in Tokyo, such as the Kaisei School (1873), the predecessor of Tokyo University.

“This manner of timber frame construction faced with stucco, and often faced with stone at the corners of the outer wall, was taken as a model, and many primary schools were built in this style. The Communications Ministry (1874) was another notable production of Hayashi, who, though he likewise featured an eclectic style, aimed at greater simplicity of design than did Shimizu [Kisuke II].

“Early Meiji Architecture, 1868-1885”, edited by Naoteru Uyeno (trans. By Richard Lane), Japanese Arts and Crafts in the Meiji Era, 1958

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