Sudo Family Residence Main House

A Plain, Horizontal House of 1932

The Sudo Family Residence Main House (須藤家住宅主屋, Sudō-ke Jūtaku Omoya) is a two-storey timber house of 1932 in Shinjuku, Zushi City, Kanagawa Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 February 2022.

It has a building area of 138 square meters and a slate roof, and stands near Zushi Beach with its entrance on the east. It was renovated in 1966 and again in 2000.

Why It Was Registered

The Sudo Family Residence Main House carries registration number 14-0308 and was registered in the 101st round, together with the former boiler room on the same plot (14-0309), under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs sums it up as an early Showa house of plain design. Its character comes from the line of the eaves and window hoods rather than from ornament. A central-corridor plan that combines Western-style rooms with a traditional suite of tatami rooms also reflects how houses of the period were being planned.

What to Look For

A Ground Floor Divided by a Corridor

The ground floor of the Sudo Family Residence Main House is planned around a central corridor. Beside the east entrance is a Western-style reception room; the middle of the south side holds a pair of connected tatami rooms with a broad veranda; and in the southwest corner is a Western-style study. All of them look onto the garden. Guests, family life and the head of the household each had their own room, separated by the corridor.

Western and Japanese Rooms Upstairs

Upstairs, a Western-style room and a Japanese-style room sit side by side, east and west. The same room-by-room mixing of styles runs through both floors.

Window Hoods in a Line

The eaves are kept short and the hoods over the windows run in a continuous horizontal band. Instead of deep eaves casting heavy shadow, as in a traditional Japanese house, the facade is held together by thin lines running sideways.

Visiting

The Sudo Family Residence Main House is lived in as a private home, and Zushi City states that it is not open to the public. Neither floor can be visited and the grounds cannot be entered. If you pass by, stay on the public road and refrain from taking photographs.