- No-5
- Former Moji Mitsui Club (main bldg., annex)
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■ Commentary
The Former Moji Mitsui Club is a building for welcoming customers that was constructed in Tani-machi, a new residential area of Yamate, by the Moji Branch Office of Mitsui & Co. It is comprised of a Western-style main building for receiving guests and a Japanese-style annex equipped with facilities for providing services. The main building is a 2-story wooden construction with small, gabled dormer windows on the large, central slate roof. The outside walls on the 1st floor have artificial stone over a tiled substrate, while the 2nd floor and bay windows are half -timber. The exterior walls, called “German walls,” were covered in mortar to create a rough surface. German walls were popular at the time, and formed a rich exterior appearance.
The 1st floor of the main building had a main hall, dining room, reception room, and drawing room, while on the 2nd floor were a sitting room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. The service annex attached to the back of the main building was used as living quarters for the manager and others.
At the time the building stood in Tani-machi, the home of the manager of the Moji Branch Office of Mitsui & Co. was established right behind the Former Moji Mitsui Club. When zaibatsu financial cliques were dissolved in 1949, Japan National Railways purchased the building. It was later used as an overnight facility called the Montestu Kaikan .
Prior to the war, neither the main building nor the annex underwent any renovations to speak of. After the war, a storage room was built in the attic of the main building, and in the late 1950s/early 1960s the 2nd-floor bedrooms were renovated into Japanese-style rooms so to use the building could be used as a lodging facility. Also, the roof was retiled into with an asbestos cement slate roof, the paint color of the exterior wooden portions was changed, and the interior materials and lighting fixtures were modified. The annex’s kitchen was also expanded during the renovations.
Furthermore, in 1990 the City of Kitakyushu took over the building and dismantled the main building and annex, moving it in front of JR Mojiko Station. Even today, near the buildings old site, there is an old Mitsui & Co. company house featuring a large pitched roof with dormer windows. This gives a glimpse of the huge economic power that Moji once had. When the building was moved to the site in front of Mojiko Station, surveys for dismantling the building brought to light the long-unknown designer, Gunpei Matsuda. When the building was moved and repaired, significant efforts were made to restore the original wallpaper and carpeting to theas far as extent possible. The roof was also restored to the original natural slate roofing. These kinds of preservation and restoration efforts were carried out as a result of careful examinationsresearch. The Former Moji Mitsui Club has been designated a national important cultural property.
Now, this building has been revitalized and is used as a facility where residents can relax thanks to through a facilities such as a restaurant, assembly hall, and concert hall. So that it can be In order to use itd for suchthose purposes reasons, equipment has been installed such as air conditioning, several toilets, and a fireproof kitchen and other equipment has been installed. -
■ Information
Address：7-1 Minato-machi, Moji-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture
Tel： 093-321-4151, 093-332-1000 (restaurant)
Parking：available
Hours : 9:00–17:00; restaurant is open at night (generally until 21:00)
Closed : Open
Fee : 2nd floor Entrance Fee Only: Adults 100 yen, Elementary/jr. high students 50 yen; *20% discount for groups of 30 or more)
Other/Notifications：
URL: -
■Category
Category: Constituent cultural properties
Genre: Story 3
Areas:Moji/Kokura area
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