160307-0002 - Tokyo City Hall

Tokyo City Hall (東京市役所), ca. 1932 (Showa 7).

The two-story steel-frame brick building was designed by Japanese architect Yorinaka Tsumaki (妻木頼黄, 1859-1916), who also designed other notable Meiji era structures like Sugamo Prison (1896), Yokohama Specie Bank Head Office (1904), Nihonbashi Bridge (1911) and the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse No. 2 Building (1911).

Tsumaki graduated from Cornell University in the USA, before continuing his studies in Berlin, Germany where he worked in the architectural offices of Wilhelm Böckmann and Hermann Ende.

Tokyo City Hall was located in Yurakucho’s Kojimachi (麹町区有楽二丁目一番地, now Marunouchi 3-chome) and completed in 1894 (Meiji 27). It was destroyed during WWII.

Tokyo City existed as a municipality from May 1, 1889 (Meiji 22) until it was merged with Tokyo Prefecture on July 1, 1943 (Showa 18). The city was replaced by the 23 Special Wards (特別区) of Tokyo, which now call themselves cities in English.

This image has kind of a soft focus and is grainy.