Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse

A Storehouse at the Back of the Villa

The Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse (北方文化博物館新潟分館土蔵) in Minamihamadori, Chuo Ward, Niigata City, is a two-storey timber storehouse built in 1915 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse occupies the northern corner at the very back of the plot. The Ito family built it, and it has a building area of 44 square metres. The front gate and the brick wall date from the same year, when the family was securing the edges of its new villa.

Namako Tiles Below, White Plaster Above

The Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse is the only building at the annex registered under the criterion of being difficult to reproduce.

It is a two-storey building with a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof in Sangawara-buki pantiles, entered from the gable end (Tsumairi). The gable carries hinged double doors sheltered by a Geya lean-to roof. On the other three sides, the ground-floor walls are faced in Namako-kabe tilework, with white Shikkui plaster above.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it carefully built throughout and an indispensable part of the villa's make-up.

The Tile Grid and the Doorway

What first catches the eye on the Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse is the diagonal grid of the tiled lower walls. Follow the line where that tilework, running at one height around three sides, meets the white plaster above.

At the gable end, the double doors and the lean-to in front of them form the storehouse entrance. Note the thickness of the doors and the sheltered space the lean-to creates.

The storehouse has the tea buildings as neighbours: the waiting arbor stands immediately to its south.

Visiting the Storehouse

The Northern Culture Museum Niigata Annex Storehouse is not listed as a gallery, and nothing is published about access to its interior. Treat it as a building to be seen from outside.

Because it sits at the far end of the plot, check its position on the floor plan first. Ask at reception how close you may go and whether photographs are allowed.