The is a hotel in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. It 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 Hibiya Park, and the Yurakucho and Ginza neighborhoods.
In a reference to the three Edo era branch houses of the Tokugawa clan, the Imperial Hotel, Hotel Okura Tokyo, and Hotel New Otani Tokyo are often referred to as one of the of Tokyo.
History Three main buildings have stood on the hotel site, each of which embodied the finest Western design of its era. Including annexes, at least 10 structures 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 Frank Lloyd Wright when the original hotel annex burnt (1920–1923) New Imperial Hotel main building, designed by Frank Lloyd 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 Hotel Tower Building, which replaced the 1954 and 1958 annexes (1983–2024) 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 28 November 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 met until 1 March.
Business was slow at first, and the hotel lost money. Even after the U.S. annexed the Philippines in 1902, 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 Edward, 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. There were no deaths, but business at the hotel stopped until the south wing of the new hotel could be opened.
Second Imperial Hotel: 1923–1968
The second Imperial Hotel was built from 1919 to 1923, and officially opened on 1 September 1923. This hotel was the best-known of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Japan. It was designed roughly in the shape of its own logo, with the guest room wings forming the letter "H", while the public rooms were in a smaller but taller central wing shaped like the letter "I" that cut through the middle of the "H".
Preliminaries
In 1911, Wright was recommended to Aisaku Hayashi of the Imperial Hotel by Frederick W. Gookin, a fellow collector of Japanese art. By 1912, Wright was corresponding directly with Hayashi, but the death of Emperor Meiji put a hold on discussions. When discussions resumed, Wright traveled to Japan, leaving the United States on 11 January 1913. During his stay, Wright examined the site and drew some preliminary plans. He returned to the United States in May confident that he would get the commission. In early 1916, Hayashi, his wife, and Japanese architect Tori Yoshitake traveled to the United States, arriving at Taliesin in February. In addition to going over plan details before submitting them to the Hotel Board of Directors for final approval, the trip seems to have been made for Hayashi to see some of Wright's work in person, and to see how American hotels were run. Hayashi and his companions were back in Japan by mid-April, and the board had approved the plans in time for Wright to sail for Japan on 28 December 1916.
The purpose of the 1917 visit (Wright arrived on 9 January and left on 21 April) was to prepare for construction—examine the site more thoroughly, make arrangements for materials, and hire draftsmen to make the working drawings. Wright was back at Taliesin by mid-May. Initial working drawings were all done at Taliesin, and Wright did not return to Japan until 17 November 1918 to supervise the start of construction.
Construction In late 1919, when work had just begun on the new hotel, the 1906 Imperial Hotel annex burned to the ground. Work on the new hotel was stopped while Wright designed a temporary annex, which was opened five months later.
On 26 April 1922, the worst earthquake in decades (6.8 Richter) struck Tokyo. While many buildings in the area were destroyed and the remains of the first Imperial Hotel were toppled, the hotel itself—while shaken—stood completely undamaged. Wright was working on the upper floor of the building at the time, and he feared that the building would collapse when he heard a huge crash, but this turned out to just be the five chimneys from the first Imperial Hotel, which had burnt down 10 days earlier.
The north wing of the new hotel and a partially completed center section opened on 2 July 1922, in time to host the reunion of the United States Naval Academy class of 1881. At this point, estimates were that it would only take about six weeks to complete the hotel, and since the south wing was a mirror image of the north, Wright decided that he could leave the completion to be supervised by Arata Endo. Wright left Japan on 22 July 1922, never to return. The hotel took another 11 months to complete, and officially opened in June 1923.
The Frank Lloyd Wright annex (one of six Wright designs for Japan that was actually built) was destroyed in the Great Kantō earthquake on 1 September 1923, although by that time it was no longer in use.
Architecture The Frank Lloyd Wright version was designed in the Mayan Revival style of architecture. It incorporated a tall, pyramid-like structure, and also loosely copied Mayan motifs in its decorations. The main building materials were poured concrete, concrete block, and carved oya stone. The visual effect of the hotel was stunning and dramatic, though not entirely unique; it bears similarities to the Cafe Australia in Melbourne (1916), designed by Prairie School architects and former Wright associates Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin.
Other architectural similarities are found in the Park Inn Hotel of Mason City, Iowa. The latter which was designed by Wright in 1909, is considered to be a smaller prototype for the second Imperial Hotel. It continues to operate as the only Wright designed hotel remaining fully intact.
The architecture heavily influenced the style of the Kōshien Hotel, which was constructed by Wright's apprentice Arata Endo.
1923 Great Tokyo earthquake
The structure famously survived the Great Kantō earthquake on 1 September 1923 (7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale (Mw)). A telegram from Baron Kihachiro Okura reported the following:
Wright passed the telegram to journalists, helping to perpetuate a legend that the hotel was unaffected by the earthquake. In reality, the building had been damaged; the central section slumped, several floors bulged, four pieces of stonework fell to the ground, fans fell from the balcony, and electric ranges in the kitchen were toppled, starting a kitchen fire that was fairly quickly extinguished. It was also not the only building to survive, or the least damaged. On the insurance company damage scale (1–5), it was in the second best (light damage) category. According to the Tokyo Building Inspection Department, about 19% of the brick buildings and 20% of the steel and reinforced concrete buildings in the city were categorized in the best category (no damage) and thus performed better than the Imperial.
The building's main failing was its foundation. Wright had intended the hotel to float on the site's alluvial mud "as a battleship floats on water", even during an earthquake. This was accomplished by making it shallow, with broad footings. However, this proved an inadequate support and did not prevent the building from sinking into the mud to such an extent that it had to be demolished decades later. Furthermore, alluvial mud, such as that at the hotel's site, amplifies seismic waves.
However, the hotel had several design features that minimized potential earthquake damage: Interlocking timber beams within the foundation, which allowed the structure to sway, but not collapse; Seismic separation joints, located about every along the building; Tapered walls, thicker on lower floors, increasing their strength; Cantilevered floors and balconies provided extra support for the floors; Suspended piping and wiring, instead of being encased in concrete, as well as smooth curves, making them more resistant to fracture; A copper roof eliminated the risk of falling debris created by traditional tile roofs; The reflecting pool provided a source of water for fire-fighting, saving the building from the post-earthquake firestorm.