Josiah Conder

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Conder on the grounds of Tokyo University
Street with the Mitsubishi buildings
Replica, 2009
Former residence of the Iwasaki family
Furukawa residence

Josiah Conder (born September 28, 1852 in London ; † June 21, 1920 ) was a British architect who accepted an invitation to Japan in 1877, taught Western-style architecture and created over fifty Western-style buildings as an architect.

biography

Conder was born in London and trained at the Royal College of Art and the University of London . From 1873 to 1875 he worked in an architecture firm, took part in a competition of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1876 and won first prize. In the same year he received a contract from the Japanese side as o-yatoi gaikokujin and so came to Japan in 1877, where he began teaching at the Kōbu Daigakkō , a training facility under the Kōbu-shō (Ministry of Industry), at the age of 25 . His students include Tatsuno Kingo (e.g. Tokyo Central Station ), Katayama Tōkuma (e.g. Akasaka Palace ), Sone Tatsuzō (e.g. Old Library of Keiō University ), Satachi Shichijirō, and Shimoda Kikutarō .

In addition to his work as an architect, Conder was interested in Japanese arts and crafts. He studied Japanese painting with Kawanabe Gyōsai (1831–1889), wrote books on Ikebana and Japanese gardens . Married to Maenami Kume since 1893 and retired to Japan. He died there in 1920, shortly after his wife died. Conder is buried in Gokoku-ji's cemetery.

Working in Japan

Between 1878 and 1917, Conder designed more than 50 buildings, some public, some residences for prominent Japanese. Much of it fell victim to the Kanto earthquake in 1923 , the Second World War or simply new buildings. With neo-renaissance and neo-baroque, his style reflects the European style mixture of the time, which also included Moorish elements . A well-known example was the Rokumeikan , completed in 1883 , which was demolished in 1940. Conder attached great importance to an appropriate interior design, as can be seen in the main building of the Seisen University.

Conder was particularly closely associated with the Iwasaki family, which founded and ran the Mitsubishi group. Among other things, the brick buildings erected by the group in the Marunouchi district in 1894–1896 come from him . They have long been replaced by new buildings, but in 2009 a replica of house No. 1 rebuilt.

Preserved buildings (selection)

  • 1882 Imperial Museum on Ueno Hill. It suffered great damage in the Kantō earthquake in 1923 , part of it was moved to the coast of Yugawara and is there as the "Milky Way House " ( 銀河 館 , Ginga-kan ),
  • 1891 Nikolai Church ( ニ コ ラ イ 堂 , Nikorai-dō ; revision of a design by Mikhail A. Shchurupov ( Russian Михаил Арефьевич Щурупов ). Valuable cultural asset ,
  • 1896 Iwasaki Hisaya residence in Kayamachi. Since 2001 as "Former Iwasaki Residence and Garden" ( 旧 岩崎 邸 庭園 洋 館 , Kyū-Iwasaki-tei Teien Yōkan ) accessible. Valuable cultural asset ,
  • 1908 Iwasaki Yanosuke's residence in Takanawa. Today Mitsubishi Kaitō Pavilion ( 三菱 開 東 閣 , Mitsubishi Kaitōkaku ),
  • 1910 Iwasaki mausoleum ( 岩崎 弥 之 助 家廟 ),
  • 1912 Iwanaga Shōichi's residence , partially preserved in Meguro Gajoen ( 目 黒 雅 叙 園 旬 遊 紀 ),
  • 1913 Mitsui Club ( 綱 町 三井 倶 楽 部 ),
  • 1913 Residence Moroto Seiroku in Rokkaen ( 六 華苑 )) in Kuwana . Valuable cultural asset,
  • 1915 Shimazu residence in Aburagasaki, today the main building of the Seisen Women's University ( 清泉 女子 大学 本館 , Seisen Joshi Daigaku honkan ),
  • 1917 Furukawa Toranosuke residence . Today Ōtani Museum in the Furukawa Garden ( 旧 古河 庭園 大谷 美術館 , Kyū-Furukawa-tei Teien Ōtani Bijutsukan ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Lt. jp.wikipedia was also the building of the German Embassy from 1897 by Conder, which was also destroyed by the earthquake in 1923. A document on the German side is still being sought.

Publications

  • Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement . 1891.
  • Landscape gardening in Japan. 1893. (Reprinted by Dover Publications, 1964)

swell

  • Sawako Noma (Ed.): Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedy . Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X .
  • T. Suzuki: Encyclopedia Nipponica 2001 . Shogakukan, 1996.
personal data
SURNAME Conder, Josiah
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British architect in Japan
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH June 21, 1920