The building for Holme, Ringer & Co. that stands in the port town of Moji today was built in 1962. The reason iIt is relatively is related to the history of the new because there was a company that built itcame before it. Holme, Ringer & Co. was established in 1868 by the British trading merchant, Fredrick Ringer, and Edward Z. Holme. The same company that helped Nagasaki develop was shut down during the war, and the company that was reopened in Moji by former Japanese employees was Holme, Ringer & Co. Today, it is an agency for foreign ships. Fredrick Ringer was a tea appraiser for the British Fletcher & Co. and worked in China. In 1865, he was scouted by Glover & Co. and worked as an inspector for the tea trade in Nagasaki. Later, he established Holme, Ringer & Co. in 1868 with his colleague, Edward Z. Holme. At first, they dealt in tea just as he had at Glover & Co., but the business expanded along with the rapid growth of the transportation, coal, and munitions industries in Japan brought by the first industrial revolution. Between the Meiji period (1868–1912) and the early Showa era (1926–1989), the company conducted a wide range of businesses that included milling, oil reserves, and electrical energy. That work was also varied, including involvement in trade with various overseas ports such as Vladivostok and engaging in proxy services for trading companies from different countries. In 1907, Fredrick Ringer died while on a visit home to Norwich, England. The company was later taken over by his 2nd son, Sidney who returned to Nagasaki in 1909. Sidney was ordered to shut down the Nagasaki head office of Holme, Ringer & Co. in October 1940 by the Japanese government, which was at war, and he was forced to flee to Shanghai. Sidney returned to Japan after the war, but in 1965 sold off all assets in Japan and went home to England where he spent the rest of his life until he died in 1967. What most draws your eye on the building’s facade (front) is the entrance and the semicircular window above it. Keeping the windows to the left and right simple stresses the building’s symmetry. The overall pale color pale scheme gives a clean impression, and the English banner ad is playful.
■ Information
Address: 9-9 Minato-machi, Moji-ku, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture
Tel:
Parking:available
Hours :
Closed :
Fee :
Other/Notifications:Only the exterior can be viewed
URL:
■Category
Category: Constituent cultural properties
Genre: Story 3
Areas:Moji/Kokura area