Former Mackenzie House

A Spanish-Style House by Suruga Bay, 1940

The Former Mackenzie House (旧マッケンジー住宅) is a Western-style house of 1940 in Takamatsu, Suruga Ward, Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, near the shore, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 12, 1997 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was designed by William Merrell Vories.

The Agency records a timber house of two storeys above ground and one below, with a lookout tower, a tiled roof and a building area of 283 square metres; registration number 22-0007.

The Home of a Tea Merchant and a Social Worker

According to Shizuoka City, the Former Mackenzie House was the home of Duncan J. Mackenzie, a tea trader, and his wife Emily M. Mackenzie, a social welfare worker, who became the city's first honorary citizen.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits the couple with helping Japanese tea reach export markets and with wide-ranging social work. After Mrs Mackenzie returned home in 1972 the city took over the house, now one of the few prewar Western-style houses left in Shizuoka (Shizuoka City).

Why It Was Registered

The Former Mackenzie House was registered as a model of form. It is a Spanish-style house with a lookout tower, its red tile roofs set sharply against white rendered walls (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

What to Look For

The Former Mackenzie House stands on a broad plot on the Suruga Bay shore looking toward the Izu Peninsula (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Two timber storeys sit over a basement, and from outside you notice the red tile roofs, the white walls and the lookout tower rising above them.

Visiting

According to Shizuoka City, the Former Mackenzie House is open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekdays and 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekends and holidays. It closes on the second and fourth Tuesdays and every Wednesday (except holidays). Admission is free, and there is free parking for 46 cars.

Take the Shizutetsu Justline Ishida Kaido line bus (bound for Higashi-Otani via Shimojima) to Hamashikichi, then walk 5 minutes; by car it is about 10 minutes from the Shizuoka interchange on the Tomei Expressway (Shizuoka City). Enquiries: Shizuoka City cultural properties section, 054-221-1066.