HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The is a
hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...
in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda ward,
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
. 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 Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. 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 Hibiya Park (, ) is a park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66 m2 (40 acres) between the east gardens of the Kōkyo, Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Kasumigaseki government distri ...
, and the Yurakucho and
Ginza Ginza ( ; ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo ...
neighborhoods. In a reference to the three Edo era branch houses of the
Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty which produced the Tokugawa shoguns who ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868 during the Edo period. It was formerly a powerful ''daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of ...
, 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 Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
: * 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 , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...
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, after the Spanish–American and
Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...
s, 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 The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...
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 Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
'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,
Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
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 , posthumously honored as , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the List of emperors of Japan, traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ...
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 Taliesin ( , ; 6th century AD) was an early Britons (Celtic people), Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the ''Book of Taliesin''. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to ...
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 January 9 and left on April 21) 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 The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...
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 Mayan Revival is a modern architectural style popular in the Americas during the 1920s and 1930s that drew inspiration from the architecture and iconography of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. History Origins Though the name of the s ...
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 is a composite material composed of aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...
, 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 Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
(1916), designed by
Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
architects Marion Mahony and
Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He designed Canberra, Australia's capital city, the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and Leeton, New So ...
. 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 The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. was defined in a 1979 paper ...
(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 A seismic wave is a mechanical wave of acoustic wave, acoustic energy that travels through the Earth or another planetary body. It can result from an earthquake (or generally, a quake (natural phenomenon), quake), types of volcanic eruptions ...
. 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. After the earthquake and subsequent fire, the Hotel temporarily hosted the American, British, French, and Italian embassies, as well as the Chinese and Swedish Ministers. The Grill Room, as well as some exterior space behind the hotel, was allocated to storage of relief supplies. The front entrance to the new South wing was given over for use by public utilities, and the press was given the banquet hall entrance and the promenade leading to the banquet hall. Until electric and water were restored, cooking was done outside, first on campfires, then on charcoal grills. For the first four days after the earthquake, the hotel fed all comers for free, up to 2,500 people twice daily. After that, the hotel charged only cost until the emergency was over. Electricity was restored to the hotel on September 4, and water on September 5. Relief supplies from other countries started arriving in Tokyo, and to the hotel, on September 3 with the arrival of the destroyer USS ''Stewart''. In 1930, the Kōshien Hotel was constructed under the plans of Arata Endo, a disciple of Wright. The design was inspired by the Imperial Hotel.


World War II

By 1936, Japan was preparing for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and there was serious talk of replacing Wright's Imperial Hotel with a building more suited to the needs of the time. With only 280 rooms, the hotel was no longer financially viable. World War II intervened to cancel the Olympics and save the hotel from the wrecking ball. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the South wing of the hotel was gutted by incendiary bombs on 25 May 1945, and the Peacock room was destroyed. The hotel asked Wright to come back and design the repairs to the hotel, but Wright refused. The hotel was commandeered for a period by the Allied occupation forces and managed by the U.S. government, under the supervision of Lieutenant J. Malcolm Morris, from 1945 to 1952, and some of the damage was repaired during this time.


Postwar

As part of the land reform instituted by the occupying forces under General
Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...
, Okura Kishichiro and all of his family had to give up their shares in the Imperial Hotel. The same applied to the Imperial Household Agency, ending the financial involvement of the Imperial family in the hotel. The hotel was returned to its owners on 1 April 1952, and full repairs could be made. As the guest wings of the Wright building were only three stories tall, it actually had relatively few guest rooms. Once the war damage had been repaired, a new annex was constructed directly behind the North wing of Wright's building, opening on 1 December 1954 and adding 200 guest rooms to the hotel. Construction for a second annex of 450 guest rooms started on 17 November 1956, with the annex opening in June 1958. On 15 January 1956, a salesman for the hotel's jewelry shop was robbed by American professional wrestler John MacFarland and a Japanese accomplice. MacFarland was famous for his Japanese professional wrestling career, but was deeply in debt and desperate for money. The jewelry shop was known to arrange showings of expensive gems to wealthy customers; MacFarland arranged for a showing of
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
s, rubies, and
sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...
s in his room that morning at 10:20. He attacked the salesman, tied him up, and took his briefcase. He immediately left the hotel through the main lobby, but paused to sign
autograph An autograph is a person's own handwriting or signature. The word ''autograph'' comes from Ancient Greek (, ''autós'', "self" and , ''gráphō'', "write"), and can mean more specifically: Gove, Philip B. (ed.), 1981. ''Webster's Third New Intern ...
s before departing. Police quickly realized that MacFarland, a recognizable tall Caucasian man with red hair, was the perpetrator. He was arrested without incident at Tokyo club later that night. None of the missing gemstones were ever recovered.


Demolition

The hotel eventually slipped into decay as time took its toll. In a controversial decision, it was decided in 1967 to demolish the old hotel and replace it with a high-rise structure. Reasons given for the demolition include the damage to the banquet section and South wing during World War II, uneven settling of the building on its floating foundation (some parts of the building had sunk as much as ), and damage to the decorative oya stone that was causing pieces to fall off. The second Imperial Hotel was closed on 15 November 1967, and demolition started shortly after.


Surviving portion

While most of Wright's building was destroyed, the iconic central lobby wing and the reflecting pool were disassembled and rebuilt at The Museum ''Meiji-mura'', a collection of buildings (mostly from the
Meiji Era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...
) in Inuyama, near
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
, where they are open to the public. Because the building structure was brick and concrete and could not be disassembled, as much of the oya stone as possible, tiles, and other finishing materials were preserved. Demolition of the hotel was completed and materials stored at Meiji-mura by March 1968. A site for the reconstruction was chosen in February 1970, and exterior reconstruction started in March, taking 6 years to complete. Interior reconstruction started in November 1983 after a 7-year pause, and was completed in October 1985, more than 17 years after the demolition.


Gallery

File:Imperial Hotel FFW 2.jpg, Full view from Hibiya Park File:Imperial Hotel FFW 1.jpg, Connecting corridor (Lobby) File:Imperial Hotel FFW 3.jpg, Connecting corridor (Lobby) File:Imperial Hotel FFW 5.jpg, Entrance File:Imperial Hotel Lobby Entrance 1 by Anonymous.jpg, Imperial Hotel, Lobby Entrance File:Imperial Hotel Lobby Entrance.jpg, alt=, Lobby Entrance File:Imperial Hotel Stone Urn.jpg, alt=, Stone urn viewed from Lobby Entrance File:Stone Urn at Imperial Hotel Lobby Entrance.jpg, alt=, Stone urn at the Lobby Entrance File:Imperial Hotel FFW 4.jpg, Entrance Hall File:Imperial Hotel Interior Lobby.jpg, alt=, Interior Lobby Entrance File:Imperial Hotel FLW 12.jpg, Inside Lobby File:Overhead View of Imperial Hotel Hallway.jpg, alt=, Overhead view of Hallway File:Imperial Hotel FLW 13.jpg, Terrace File:Imperial Hotel Inner Courtyard.jpg, alt=, Inner Courtyard File:Imperial Hotel FFW 6.jpg, Guest room File:Imperial Hotel FFW 7.jpg, Peacock Room File:Imperial Hotel FFW 8.jpg, Peacock Room File:Imperial Hotel FFW 9.jpg, Peacock Room File:Imeperial Hotel FLW 15.jpg, Peacock Room (1935) File:Imperial Hotel FFW 10.jpg, Theater File:Imperial Hotel Theater.jpg, alt=, Theater During a Performance File:Imperial Hotel Theater and Audience.jpg, alt=, Theater and Audience File:Meiji-Mura 3882509334 61d12f951b.jpg, Original chairs by Wright, now in the Meiji Mura Museum File:Detail of Imperial Hotel Interior Stonework.jpg, alt=, Detail of Interior Stonework File:Imperial Hotel Banquet Hall Ceiling.jpg, alt=, Ceiling of the Banquet Hall File:Imperial Hotel Banquet Hall.jpg, alt=, Banquet Hall File:Imperial Hotel Decorative Stonework.jpg, alt=, Detail of Exterior Stonework File:Detail of Imperial Hotel Stonework.jpg, alt=, Stone Column File:Imperial Hotel Exterior Wall and Stone Urn.jpg, alt=, Wall and Stone Urn File:Imperial Hotel Wing.jpg, alt=, Exterior View of Wing File:Imperial Hotel Exterior Wall Stonework.jpg, alt=, Wall with Decorative Stonework File:Exterior View of Imperial Hotel Wing.jpg, alt=, Side Entrance File:Imperial Hotel Sign.jpg, alt=, Imperial Hotel Sign


Third Imperial Hotel: 1968–present

Although there had been talk of replacing the Wright hotel since before the planned 1940 Olympics, the first serious mention of plans for a new building was in 1963 when board minutes show that Takahashi Teitaro had been sent to the United States to look at hotels and start planning. At the 16 October 1966, board meeting, a plan to build a new hotel, to be completed in time for
Expo '70 The or Expo '70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, between 15 March and 13 September 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...
in Osaka, was unanimously approved. Ground was broken on 28 February 1968, just after demolition of the Wright building was completed. The 10 story parking garage just south of the annexes was completed in 1969, before the rest of the third main building. The third main building, a 17-story hotel tower with 772 guest rooms, was constructed on the site of Wright's building and opened on 10 March 1970. The 1954 and 1958 annexes were torn down in 1979. Construction of a 31-story mixed-use tower (known as the Imperial Hotel Tower Building or Imperial Hotel Tower annex) began on 25 December 1979 and opened on 13 March 1983. The tower contains four floors of shops (known as the Imperial Hotel Plaza), 14 floors of offices, and 363 guest rooms on the top 12 floors. The tower was in service for 40 years until its demolition in 2024.


Notable events

Princess Sayako (the third child and only daughter of
Emperor Akihito Akihito (born 23 December 1933) is a member of the Imperial House of Japan who reigned as the 125th emperor of Japan from 1989 until 2019 Japanese imperial transition, his abdication in 2019. The era of his rule was named the Heisei era, Hei ...
and
Empress Michiko is a member of the Imperial House of Japan. She was Empress of Japan as the wife of Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan reigning from 7 January 1989 to 30 April 2019. Michiko married Crown Prince Akihito and became Crown Princess of Japan i ...
of
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, now
Sayako Kuroda , formerly , is the youngest child and only daughter of Emperor Emeritus Akihito and Empress Emerita Michiko, and the younger sister of the current Emperor of Japan, Naruhito. She is an imperial Shinto priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine, curr ...
), was married at the hotel in 2005.


Redevelopment for fourth incarnation of hotel

In March 2021, it was reported that the Imperial Hotel's owners, real estate company
Mitsui Fudosan is a major Japanese real estate developer with properties located globally. Mitsui Fudosan is one of the core companies of Mitsui Group. Corporate structure The company is organized into four divisions. *Office Building Division *Real Estate ...
, would soon close the hotel and demolish the existing buildings. The structures will be cleared, along with neighboring buildings, for construction of a new $2 billion development, which will be integrated with the adjacent
Hibiya Park Hibiya Park (, ) is a park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66 m2 (40 acres) between the east gardens of the Kōkyo, Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Kasumigaseki government distri ...
by a bridge covering the six-lane road that separates them. A high-rise tower annex to the hotel is expected to open first, in 2030, at which the Main Building itself will be rebuilt. The new fourth Imperial Hotel itself is not expected to be completed and reopened until 2036. was hired to design a new main building for the Imperial Hotel. The Imperial Hotel Plaza (which comprises the lower floors of the Imperial Hotel Tower annex) and offices were scheduled to close in late March 2024, followed by the hotel itself in late June 2024. The Imperial Hotel Plaza closed on 31 March 2024. The rest of the Tower closed on 30 June 2024 and demolition commenced thereafter.


See also

*
Fujiya Hotel The is a historic hotel in Miyanoshita in Hakone, Hakone, Kanagawa, Japan. History The hotel was constructed in 1891 and consists of different sections constructed in a mixture of traditional Japanese and western architecture that was popula ...
* Nagoya Hotel * Nikkō Kanaya Hotel * List of Frank Lloyd Wright works


Notes


References

* *


External links

*
Official website




* *
Album with views of the Frank Lloyd Wright Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art Library, Washington, DC
{{Coord, 35.67231, N, 139.75822, E, source:placeopedia, display=title 1890 establishments in Japan 1968 disestablishments in Japan Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Hotel buildings completed in 1890 Hotel buildings completed in 1923 Hotel buildings completed in 1970 Hotels established in 1890 Mayan Revival architecture Mitsui Fudosan Skyscraper hotels in Tokyo Skyscrapers in Chiyoda, Tokyo