Roy Smith Hall Main Building (Former Otani Family Residence Main House)

Spanish Tiles and Half-Timbering on the Rokko Slopes

The Roy Smith Hall Main Building (Former Otani Family Residence Main House) (ロイ・スミス館本館（旧大谷家住宅主屋）) is an early Showa Western-style house on the southern foot of Mount Rokko of 1935 in Shinohara Kitamachi, Nada Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 28, 2011 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey timber house with a tiled roof and a building area of 420 square metres, altered in the mid-Showa period and in 2007; registration number 28-0527.

Spanish Tiles and Half-Timbering

The main building of Roy Smith Hall faces south along the north edge of a site on the southern foot of Mount Rokko; it is a two-storey timber house with a hipped roof of Spanish tiles, its exterior composed with Western motifs such as half-timbering and triple windows (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Tiles and stained glass are placed at key points inside, conveying the modern taste of the early Showa period (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Nada Ward says it was completed in 1935.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes it as a house that conveys early Showa modern taste, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For

Look for the hipped roof of Spanish tiles and the half-timbering and triple windows (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

It is owned by the Kobe University Rokkodai Supporters Association Foundation (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Nada Ward lists it as not open to the public. The main building, garage and gate pillars and stone walls are introduced together on the Roy Smith Hall page.