Kyoto Art Center West Building (former Meirin Elementary School Main Building)

About the Kyoto Art Center West Building

The Kyoto Art Center West Building (京都芸術センター西館（旧京都市立明倫小学校本館）) is the former main block of Meirin Elementary School, a two-storey reinforced-concrete building of 1931 renovated in 1999, at the Kyoto Art Center on Muromachi-dori south of Takoyakushi, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on July 8, 2008.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as reinforced concrete, two storeys with a basement, with a building area of 661 square metres; registration number 26-0303, owned by Kyoto City. The west, south and north buildings and the main gate and wall of the former Meirin Elementary School were all registered on July 8, 2008 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Kyoto Art Center West Building was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. According to the Kyoto Art Center, the Meirin school buildings date from a major rebuilding of 1931 to designs by the Kyoto City building department, and the conversion into the art centre kept them almost unchanged (Kyoto Art Center).

What to Look For

The Kyoto Art Center West Building runs east-west and is entered through a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) porch on the south, reached from the gate on Muromachi-dori. Downstairs the west half was offices and the east half the old gymnasium; upstairs the west half is a Japanese-style great hall and the east half the old auditorium (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Spanish tiles on the parapet and a balcony on the upper floor of the west gable give the exterior its character (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The great hall upstairs, 78 mats under a coffered ceiling, keeps the feel of the school and is used for traditional performances and tea gatherings (Kyoto Art Center).

Visiting the Kyoto Art Center West Building

Admission to the Kyoto Art Center is free. It is open 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. (galleries, library and information corner until 8:00 p.m.) and closed December 28 to January 4. The auditorium, the great hall, the Japanese room and the studios can be seen only when opened for events, but the library, café and corridors alone give a good sense of the old school (Kyoto Art Center). It is a 5-minute walk from exits 22 and 24 of Shijo Station on the Karasuma subway line or Karasuma Station on the Hankyu line. There is no parking.