Satake Glass Main House

A 1941 House on the Corner of a Glassworks

The Satake Glass Main House (佐竹ガラス主屋, Satake Garasu Shuoku) is a two-storey timber residence built in 1941 in Saiwai 2-chome, Izumi City, Osaka Prefecture, and it was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 24, 2001.

It stands at the southern edge of the premises of Satake Glass, a maker of colored craft-glass rods founded in 1927, on the corner where two streets meet. Inside the property, home and factory are thoroughly mixed, and this is the building that was put up to live in. It has a tiled Irimoya-zukuri roof, a hip-and-gable form, and covers 275 square metres; the single-storey office is attached to its northwest side.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs places it in the middle of town, and that is how it reads on the street. Approach Satake Glass from outside and the first thing you see is not a chimney or a shed but this dignified Japanese house holding the corner.

Why It Was Registered: Six Buildings, One Model of Design

All six Satake Glass buildings were registered on the same day, but only the Satake Glass Main House qualified under the criterion for buildings that "serve as a model of design." The office, melting plant, workshop, mixing factory and shrine were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape. In other words, those five count as parts of the ensemble, while the main house was valued for its own architecture.

That architecture is all in the facade. On the ground floor, white Shikkui lime plaster is screened by fine vertical latticework. The upper floor switches to black plaster, pierced by mushiko-mado, the slatted "insect-cage" windows of the traditional Japanese townhouse; on the long eaves side these carry decorative patterns. Light below, dark above, open lattice against solid wall: the contrast plays out along both street frontages.

Lattices and mushiko-mado belong to the vocabulary of merchant townhouses going back centuries. Here they were applied with care as late as 1941, beside a working factory, and the house stayed in use as a home. Izumi City's heritage guide makes the point that the traditional main house and office have survived as one piece with the works, which is what gives the site its value.

What to Look For

Start with the ground-floor lattice. The vertical bars are slender and set close together, so from a few steps back they read like a veil drawn across the white wall. On a sunny day their shadows stripe the plaster.

Then lift your eyes to the upper storey, where the heavier black wall frames the small patterned windows. The decorated openings are on the eaves side, and because the Satake Glass Main House sits on a corner, there are points on the street where you can take in both faces at once.

Finally, follow the roofline. The hip-and-gable roof runs in the same direction as the office roof beside it, and the step down from house to office is one of the details you can read clearly from outside.

Visiting the Satake Glass Main House

The Satake Glass Main House was built as a residence, and there is no announced public access to the interior. Because it stands on a corner, the exterior can be seen from the street in front of the property.

Satake Glass is a working factory, and its tours and bead-making classes are by reservation. Please don't wander onto the premises unannounced; the street is the place to view the house. Even with a booking, the main house interior is not necessarily part of the visit, so if you plan to photograph the building, ask about it when you reserve.