History of the Hall

The Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall is a commemorative building constructed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Yokohama Port with donations from Yokohama citizens. It was completed on June 30, 1917, and on July 1 the following day. This building is located in public hall, Yokohama, and is one of the two major public hall buildings in the Taisho period, along with public hall Nakanoshima, Osaka, completed in 1918 the following year.

This location is a central facility (town hall) for Yokohama citizens, and is home to the town hall (completed in 1874, burned down in 1906, Design Buri Shens), which was popular as a "clock tower". Based on Yokohama's first public architectural competition (competition), a plan that inherited the image of the clock tower of the old town hall was elected and moved to the implementation. Along with the construction process, the architectural shape mainly of the clock tower has become a factor in the building that is deeply loved by citizens.

In the design, taking advantage of the plan of Tokyo City engineer Shigeyoshi Fukuda, who was elected as a result of the competition, the staff who later formed the Yokohama City Building Division hit it, showing the ability to repair the city hall It is also noteworthy that we are creating works that are suitable for.

The architectural style of the Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall adopts the so-called `` Tatsuno Free Classic '', which is a mixture of red brick and granite, and is an extension of the Meiji era red brick building, but in the three corners facing the street , A clock tower, and an octagonal tower are arranged, and the architectural structure with the dome is a work that shows the arrival point of the style design in red brick architecture. In addition, the 36-meter-high clock tower (steel bricks) show the standard level of brick-making structures during the Taisho period, and the details of the stone decoration reflect the segmentation style, making it unique to the Taisho period.

Due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, only the clock tower and the wall were left, the interior was burned down, and the roof domes were missing.

The earthquake disaster recovery work was completed in 1927, but at the time of restoration, the same design staff as at the time of construction worked on the plan and unified the design of the earthquake reconstruction period, including stained glass. This is the earliest example of structural reinforcement of brick buildings, and it is also valuable in conveying the interior space of the late Taisho. In addition, the roof domes have not been restored.

After the war, it was requisitioned by the U.S. Army from 1945 to 1958 and was called the "Memorial Hall", and was used as a screening hall for movies for soldiers stationed troops.

It was positioned as the public hall of Naka Ward in June 1959, and was renamed Yokohama Port Opening Memorial Hall.

In 1985, a blueprint at the time of its foundation was discovered and donated to Motoichi. In response to a proposal from the Dome Restoration Investigation Committee (Chair: Teijiro Muramatsu, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo) The dome was started in 1988, and on June 16, 1989, it was restored to its original form in the Taisho era. Along with the exterior and interior, the architectural style from the late Meiji era to the Taisho era was conveyed, and it was revived as an excellent building showing the architectural standards at that time.