Former Kobe Foreign Settlement No. 15

The Last Trading House of Kobe's Foreign Settlement

The Former Kobe Foreign Settlement No. 15 (旧神戸居留地十五番館) is a foreign settlement trading house of around 1881 in Naniwamachi, Chuo Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on May 19, 1989 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey brick-and-timber building with a pantile roof, covering 175.4 square metres; designation number 02217.

The Building on Lot 15

The Hyogo (Kobe) foreign settlement was decided on in 1867, and at the first auction in 1868 a Frenchman bought lot 15 and built a hotel on it (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The present building is thought to date from around 1881 and became the head office of Nozawa Co., Ltd. in 1966. Kobe City dates it to around 1880.

It is a two-storey brick-and-timber building. Pediments at both ends of the south front facing the sea and an open verandah upstairs gave it a strong front; the verandah was later enclosed (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

It was well preserved, with fine details at the verandah, the central corridor and the stairs, and is valuable as the only trading house left in the former Kobe foreign settlement (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was designated an Important Cultural Property on May 19, 1989. Kobe City calls it the oldest Western-style building surviving in Kobe.

Collapse and Rebuilding

According to the Kobe Shimbun (2014), it collapsed in the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 and was rebuilt three years and three months later, reusing 70 percent of the surviving material and setting base isolation underground.

What to Look For

Look for the pediments at both ends of the south front and the trace of the verandah later enclosed (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

No official information on access to the interior or its current use was found. It can be seen from the road.