Edobori Kodama Building

A Spanish-Style Town House of 1935

The Edobori Kodama Building (江戸堀コダマビル) is a city residence of 1935 in Edobori, Nishi Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on October 2, 2007 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a reinforced concrete building of 3 storeys above ground and 1 below, with a rooftop tower and a building area of 111 square metres; registration number 27-0429.

A Cotton Merchant's House in Concrete

The Edobori Kodama Building stands on a long, narrow lot 7.9 metres wide, set back a little from the street to the north (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The exterior is in the Spanish style, and the rooms are stacked around a light court from the basement to the roof.

Osaka City says it was built in 1935 as the private house of Kodama Takejirō, a cotton cloth merchant, by the Okamoto building firm, which worked on many buildings by William Merrell Vories. Among the Spanish details are wave patterns and forms recalling the brackets and rafters of temples and shrines.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it as a model of design, a fine example of the city house planned in three dimensions around a light court, from basement to roof.

What to Look For

Look for the Japanese touches mixed into the Spanish front: the wave pattern and forms like temple brackets and rafters (Osaka City).

Visiting

Osaka City says the interior has been remodelled and the building is now let to tenants, including music lesson studios. No official information on visits was found.