United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House (Former Beken Residence)

About United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House (Former Beken Residence) (日本基督教団安中教会宣教師館（旧ベーケン邸）) is a 2-storey timber Western-style house on the grounds of Annaka Church in Annaka City, Gunma Prefecture, built in 1954 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. It was built as a residence for foreign missionaries, one of several buildings belonging to the church.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as timber, 2 storeys, tile-roofed, with a building area of 82 square meters. It stands southwest of the Onkotei, the church's former parsonage. The name Beken presumably refers to a former occupant, but we could not find a source that identifies the person.

Carrying On the Missionary House Type

United Church of Christ in Japan Annaka Church Missionary House was registered on November 8, 2004, as number 10-0122, under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape.

The Agency describes a gabled roof of interlocking pantiles, with walls of English-style clapboard on the ground floor and mortar on the upper floor. A bay window projects on the south side, and 3 chimneys rise from the roof.

What the Agency values is continuity: the design carries on the missionary houses built for foreign clergy in the Meiji and Taishō eras. Although it dates from 1954, its bay window and row of chimneys follow a type that had been going up across Japan since the Meiji period. It also shows that a church tied to Niijima Jō still needed a home for foreign missionaries after the war.

The church building, the Niijima Jō Memorial Hall, was registered the same day as a separate entry.

What to Look For

Look up and count the chimneys. Three rise from the tiled gable, a reminder of a house where rooms had their own fireplaces or stoves.

Then find the bay window on the south side, pushing out from the wall to catch the sun.

Notice the change of surface between floors: overlapping horizontal boards on the ground floor, smooth mortar above.

Visiting the Missionary House

The missionary house belongs to the church, and we found no notice of public openings. Ask the church in advance if a visit is possible. Annaka Futaba Kindergarten shares the grounds, and the gate may be closed during weekday hours.

Photograph from the street and do not enter the grounds without permission. Sunday worship runs from 10:30 a.m. to 11:40 a.m., and the church says no reservation is needed.

The church is in the old town about 20 minutes on foot north of Annaka Station on the JR Shinetsu Line.