The imperial crown style architecture was thoroughly criticized at a time when modernism was flourishing. It was the style that combined a Western European classical architecture with a Japanese traditional roof. The representative buildings remained in Marunouchi district, Nagoya.
See Nagoya City Hall Main Building on the left hand and Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building on the right hand facing the boulevard.
These were the Nagoya City Hall, completed in 1930, and the Aichi Prefectural Government Building, completed in 1931. In the Nagoya City Hall competition, Kunio Maekawa, who had been a pupil of Le Corbusier, proposed a modernist box-shaped architecture, but the juries rejected it. They selected Kingo Hirabayashi's plan with a combination of brown and beige exterior walls, a clock tower with a blue-green tile roof imitating the patina roof of Nagoya Castle, and ridge tiles like a gold Shachihoko (dolphin-like fish) that was the same as Nagoya Castle.
When I stood on this spot 90 years after its completion, the reconstructed Nagoya Castle, the Aichi Prefectural Government Building, and the Nagoya City Hall created harmony, functioning as the major landmarks. If Maekawa's modernist architecture had realized, it would have become an intense landmark that overwhelmed Nagoya Castle with its newness and gigantic scale in the prewar townscape, which was lined with many old-style buildings. Meanwhile, at the present time, it may have divided the area and weakened the motivation for the reconstruction of Nagoya Castle. In some places the modernist belief was suitable for architects to think as best to create a new architecture for a new era. However, in this place, which had the most notbale cultural climate in Nagoya, it seemed that the crown style was the correct answer even if it had received criticized for long time.
The Nagoya City Hall and the Aichi Prefectural Government Building survived the war damage, and the post-war period, when its change was even worse than the war damage and old buildings had been demolished. Now, both were designated as a national important cultural property while the modernist architectures disappeared.
The reason why both survived must have been because the structure was steel-framed reinforced concrete, which was stronger and more expensive to build than reinforced concrete, and their exterior and interior were finished with the best materials. They didn't spare the expense, in addition to the effect that those were painted black with coal tar to avoid US air raids during wartime.
If the high construction cost is divided by the long period, it becomes reasonable rather than luxurious, that is, the ultimate savings. That is the Nagoya style.
Nagoya City Hall Main Building
Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the exterior appearance from the southwest with the clock tower and the main entrance on the left hand.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the main entrance. It has an Art Deco taste except the roof.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the detail of eaves of the main entrance.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : A blue-green tile roof of the clock tower was imitating the patina roof of Nagoya Castle, and ridge tiles was based on a gold Shachihoko (dolphin-like fish) of Nagoya Castle. The eaves of the two layers of the roof used beige tiles, and the tiles decorating the center tip are also the motif of a gold Shachihoko.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the courtyard and the central corridor that runs through the courtyard.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the exterior wall tiles. It has fine grooves, and the expression changes depending on the viewing distance.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : Marks of coal tar painted in the wartime remain on the upper part of the courtyard wall under the clock tower.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the stair hall. It looks like an Indian stepwell.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the stair hall.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : The handrails on the stairs are made of Kozakura marble from Yamaguchi Prefecture. The pale pink, elegant wood was left over from the construction of the National Diet Building in Tokyo. Installed above the handrail at the bottom of the stairs is a ceramic lighting fixture by ceramic artist Shinobu Komori.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : The middle landing of the stair hall and the central corridor are connected by stairs.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the central corridor on the 2nd floor.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the elevator hall and central corridor connecting the stair hall with the assembly hall through the courtyard on the right on the 2nd floor.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : The gorgeous kiln-changing tiles are decorated on the wall in front of the assembly hall on the 2nd floor. The tiles on the left and right side are dark blue and gold border tiles. According to the Tajimi City Mosaic Tile Museum, both were produced at the Tsubaki kiln established in Seto City by ceramic artist Shinobu Komori.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the elevator hall.Nagoya City Hall Main Building : See the simple and retro sign indicating the floor.
Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building
Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : The western-style exterior is topped with a roof that resembles the Nagoya Castle tower. The design was not decided by a competition, but based on the basic design of Yoshitoki Nishimura and Jin Watanabe. The main brown tile and the upper white tile were a special product of Aichi Prefecture and were intended to visualize the image of the prefecture.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : The western-style exterior is topped with a roof that resembles the Nagoya Castle tower.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the roof with the motif of the Nagoya Castle tower from a distance. The roof can't be seen very well from below. It seems that it was aimed at the effect of a distant view that can be seen standing side by side with Nagoya Castle.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the courtyard. The slanted windows in the staircase are a feature of the exterior.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the eaves. Concrete elbows are the expression of a Japanese-style roof.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : The tiles on the exterior wall have thick horizontal grooves.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the main entrance. The design around the main entrance stands out for its historicism. The walls are granite.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the interior of the Seicho (official reception hall) used for official events such as ceremonies as well as for important meetings.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : There is no classic central staircase in contrast with the Nagoya City Hall, and it was placed in a functional position. The decorations are limited, giving a sense of modernism.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : See the corridor across the courtyard. This corridor was passed through the center of the square-shaped plan to create a plan with the shape of the letter "日", which is the country name indicated with Chinese character.Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : The floor number display of the Nagoya City Hall, which was completed a year ago, is written from the right as the old style, but this floor number is written from the left. At that time, it was a time when the mixture of right-hand and left-hand writing began, or it looks retro but was it a later addition?Aichi Prefectural Office Main Building : The windows are slanted to match the slope of the stairs. I feel a hint of modernism in the design that follows the function.
