Beppu City Asami Water Purification Plant Distribution Reservoir South Entrance

What Is the Beppu City Asami Water Purification Plant Distribution Reservoir South Entrance?

The Beppu City Asami Water Purification Plant Distribution Reservoir South Entrance (別府市朝見浄水場配水池南出入口, Haisuichi Minami Deiriguchi) is a reinforced concrete maintenance hut of 1926 at the Asami plant in Asami 2-chome, Beppu City, Oita Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on September 3, 1997. It stands against the south side of the distribution reservoir at the western edge of the plant, covers 13 square meters and carries registration number 44-0015.

It is rectangular in plan, the southern one of the reservoir's two entrance huts.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that, small as it is, the South Entrance was treated as a piece of architecture, and ranks it with the reservoir as a commemorative structure. A concrete box with a door would have served for maintenance access. The finish on the walls and the shape of the windows are what lift this one above a shed. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

The Agency dates it to 1926, and Beppu's centennial waterworks history lists both reservoir entrances among the works of the First Expansion Project, begun in 1926 and completed in 1927, so the sources are in step.

What to Look For: Exposed-Aggregate Walls and Arched Windows

The walls of the Asami South Entrance are finished in Araidashi, an exposed-aggregate plaster. Mortar mixed with small pebbles is troweled on, and before it fully sets the surface is washed with water so that the stones stand proud. Up close the wall has a fine, gritty texture that changes with the light, quite unlike flat render.

On the side walls are arched window frames. A plain rectangular box gains a second show face from these round-headed openings.

The North Entrance makes its case with pilasters and capitals. The South Entrance relies instead on surface texture and the outline of its windows: two huts of the same year and the same size, finished by quite different means.

How to Visit

The Beppu City Asami Water Purification Plant Distribution Reservoir South Entrance lies inside a working plant with no regular visiting hours. If an open day brings you close, walk round to the side to see the arched frames, and look closely at the wall to catch the pebbles in the finish. Check with staff about entering the interior and taking photographs.