|
The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat. The modern hotel overlooks the Palace, the western-style Hibiya Park, and the Ginza neighborhood.〔 Three main buildings have stood on the hotel site, each of which embodied the finest western design of its era.〔 Including annexes, there have been at least 10 structures that have been part of the Imperial Hotel, including two designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: *The original Imperial Hotel, designed by Yuzuru Watanabe (1890–1922) *Hotel Metropole in Tsukiji, purchased as an annex (1906–1910) *First Imperial Hotel annex (1906–1919) *A temporary annex, designed by Wright when the original hotel annex burnt (1920–1923) *New Imperial Hotel main building, designed by Wright (1922–1967) *1954 Imperial Hotel annex (1954–1979) *1958 Imperial Hotel annex (1958–1979) *Imperial Hotel parking structure (1969–present) *Third (and current) main building, which replaced the Frank Lloyd Wright main building (1970–present) *Imperial Tower, which replaced the 1954 and 1958 annexes (1983–present) == First Imperial Hotel 1890-1922 == The original Imperial Hotel opened in November 1890 on the Northeast corner of what is now the hotel property.〔 〕 The hotel faced roughly North, with parts of the Imperial Palace moats (no longer extant) across streets on the North and East sides of the building.〔 〕 The hotel was backed by key Japanese leaders, such as Foreign Minister Count Inoue Kaoru and Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi.〔 Shibusawa and Okura Kihachiro submitted an application to form the Tokyo Hotel Co. on November 28, 1887, in order to "build a large hotel in Tokyo and to conduct the business of renting rooms to foreign guests, and for parties and other events...". There were initially 21 investors, with the largest (21.15%) being the Imperial Household Ministry. Site preparation for the hotel started in July 1888, and construction began in the fall of that year. On 7 July 1890 the name was changed to Imperial Hotel Ltd. The hotel was opened in November 1890. Plans for the hotel were part of the effort to centralize government offices in the Hibiya area. A group of German architects visited Japan and made some preliminary drawings. The initial drawings for the hotel were created by Heinrich Mänz, in the German neo-Renaissance style. In 1886, a group of 20 Japanese were sent to Germany for training. Eventually, Yuzuru Watanabe would be picked to design the 60-room hotel, which would also be known as "Watanabe House". Watanabe used the original layout by Mänz, but because of soil conditions, changed the four story stone structure to a three story wood frame and brick structure, with the exterior painted to look like stone. He also added rooms under the eaves to accommodate more guests.〔 Western (French) food had been the official banquet fare of the Imperial Palace since Emperor Meiji hosted a luncheon for the nephew of the king of Italy on 8 September 1873, and the Imperial Hotel followed that tradition. Japan's first Diet building, just finished on 24 November 1890 in time for the first Diet session, burned down on 20 January 1891. After a week of preparations, the House of Peers reconvened in the ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, where they would meet until March 1. Business was slow at first, and the hotel lost money. Even after the U.S. annexed the Philippines in 1902 After the Spanish–American and the Philippine–American War, bringing more travelers through Japan, the hotel only averaged 40 guests and 50 restaurant customers. It was not until the start of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 that the hotel was regularly filled to capacity. In 1906 a 42-room annex was built and the Hotel Metropole in Tsukiji was purchased to increase capacity, allowing the hotel to serve up to 150 resident guests and seat up to 200 for dinner and banquets. The Metropole was torn down in 1910, as planning began for a new building to be completed by 1916.〔 Watanabe's Imperial Hotel building was destroyed by fire on 16 April 1922, while the Prince of Wales was visiting Japan. The fire broke out during the day, with a full staff on hand and most of the guests out at an Imperial garden party. No lives were lost, but business at the hotel stopped until the South wing of the new hotel could be opened.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Imperial Hotel, Tokyo」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|