Umetani Dental Clinic

A Western Front on a Townhouse Plan

The Umetani Dental Clinic (梅谷歯科医院) is a three-storey timber clinic of around 1922 in Tengachaya, Nishinari Ward, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on February 17, 1999 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a three-storey timber building roofed in slate and partly in tiles, with a building area of 98 square metres; registration number 27-0057.

A Three-Storey Building on the Street

Umetani Dental Clinic is a three-storey timber clinic facing the street (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its exterior is in a Western manner, tiled on the ground floor and clad in weatherboards on the second and third floors.

Inside, the plan follows that of a traditional townhouse, and most of the rooms are Japanese in style (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it as a model of design, a fine Taisho-era example of the eager adoption of Western styling in Osaka's old working districts.

What to Look For

Notice the contrast between the tiled ground floor and the weatherboarded upper floors (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

No official information on access to the interior was found. The front can be seen from the street.