Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse

A Tool Store for the Builders

The Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse (北方文化博物館店蔵, Misegura) in Somi, Konan Ward, Niigata City, is a single-storey timber store building of 1885, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse stands on the north side of the estate, between the former workshop and the carpenters' workshop, and covers 228 square metres. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it served as the store for the carpenters' tools, and it went up while the house begun in 1882 was under construction.

Despite its name, which normally denotes a shop-front storehouse on a merchant street, this building served the estate's building works.

One of Few Surviving Construction Buildings

The Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency counts it, together with the carpenters' workshop, among the rare surviving buildings connected with the construction of a large estate.

It is a single-storey building with a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) pantile roof (Sangawara-buki), entered from the long side (Hirairi), and walled in Shitami-itabari weatherboard. The main body is raised high, and a long, deep lean-to on the south side enlarges the storage space.

The former workshop of 1883 was built to saw timber for the house, and the carpenters' workshop of the same year was where the carpenters worked. Sawing, joinery and tool storage: the whole chain of the building works is still lined up on the north side of the estate.

Tall Core, Long Lean-To

Seen from the side, the Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse shows its section clearly: a tall central body with a long lean-to running off to the south. Bringing the space under the lean-to into use gives a single-storey building a large floor area.

The weatherboard walls are plain and practical. Compared with the neighbouring workshops, it shares their character as a working building, very different from the formal front of the estate.

Visiting the Shop Storehouse

The Northern Culture Museum Shop Storehouse is now used as a store, and nothing is published about interior access. Look for it on the north side of the museum grounds, between the two workshops.

The former workshop now houses the museum shop. Ask at reception before taking photographs.