Kotobuki Building

An Early Showa Office Block on Kawaramachi

The Kotobuki Building (壽ビルディング) is a five-storey reinforced-concrete office building of 1927 facing Kawaramachi-dori in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 17, 2015. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a rare surviving early Showa office building in central Kyoto.

The Agency records it as reinforced concrete, five storeys, with a building area of 159 square metres and a rooftop structure; registration number 26-0494, owned by Kotobuki Shoji Co., Ltd.

Why It Was Registered

The Kotobuki Building was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that, while basically plain, it adopts Art Deco motifs and historicist details.

On busy Kawaramachi-dori, an early Showa concrete office block survives at its full five storeys.

What to Look For

The Kotobuki Building is plain inside and out, but its main entrance and staircase take up Art Deco motifs (Agency for Cultural Affairs); the geometric ornament around the entrance gives the building its face.

The ground-floor walls are faced in stone, and the tops of the pilasters carry acanthus and other historicist ornament (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Look up from the street to see the classical leaves at the pilaster heads.

Visiting the Kotobuki Building

We found no official information on interior access to the Kotobuki Building. The exterior can be seen from Kawaramachi-dori. The address is 251-7 Ichinocho, Nishikiyamachi-dori Matsubara-agaru, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto.