THE OLD IMPERIAL HOTEL in PRE-WW2 TOKYO -- Frank Lloyd Wright's Masterpiece in Japan

THE OLD IMPERIAL HOTEL in PRE-WW2 TOKYO -- Frank Lloyd Wright's Masterpiece in Japan
Originally uploaded by Okinawa Soba

I STAYED HERE IN 1961: COST FOR A DECENT ROOM WAS ABOUT $10..................................HONEST. AND NOW IT IS GONE.
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Here we have T. ENAMI meeting up with the work of FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT. Wright's version of the Imperial Hotel, replacing those that came before it, opened on September 1st, 1923 -- the same fateful day on which the Great Kanto Plains Earthquake destroyed Enami's Photographic Studio -- along with most of Yokohama and Tokyo.

Thanks to Wright's modern building techniques that employed a large amount of steel girders and reinforcements, this hotel survived with only minor damage. Enami himself had rebuilt his studio on Benten Street and was back in business within two years.

After 45 years in service, the structure was finally razed in 1968 to make way for a new incarnation. Thankfully, conservation minded individuals assured that part of the Hotel was saved. Students of Wright's architectural works may continue to see and examine this original Entryway at Meiji Mura Architectural Park outside of Nagoya.

The new Imperial Hotel in Tokyo has also incorporated some pieces of Wright's embellishments as part of the public interior spaces --- at least I remember seeing some of it before passing out in the Bar after too many "Rum and Cokes".

For more on the long history of the place, and its many incarnations, see : www.imperialhotel.co.jp/cgi-bin/imperial_hp/index_e.cgi?a...

Frank Lloyd Wright was also a photographer, and a book of 50 of his photographs taken while in Japan has been published. (Try a used book connection thru amazon.com)

From a Lantern-slide by T. ENAMI of Yokohama. Ca.1923-28. For more on the Life and Times of Enami see : www.t-enami.org/


For the MOTHER LODE of T. Enami photographs here on the Web --- all CC rated for your creative use --- see this Flickr collection : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/collections/7215761388...


RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/