Tokyo Woman's Christian University Building No. 17 (Reischauer House): The Founder's Home at the Quiet Corner
Reischauer House sits behind the Main Building, in the northeast corner of the grounds. The position is deliberate and it still works: the noise of the campus drops away here, and the building keeps a composure that the classroom blocks, with students moving through them all day, do not.
It was built as the family home of A. K. Reischauer, one of the university's founders. Reischauer, a missionary and theologian, was the figure who assembled support from North American Protestant denominations to establish a Christian liberal arts university for women in Japan, and he served for many years as a managing director of the institution. It was Reischauer who in 1921 asked Antonin Raymond to plan the campus, a commission that extended to finding the land itself.
Completed in 1927, the house is reinforced concrete with some timber construction, two storeys, under a tiled roof, with a building area of 184 square metres. It stands in a triangular relationship with the two other registered residences, the Foreign Teachers' Residence and Yasui Memorial Hall, each within sight of the others.
Since 2003 the ground floor has been used by the university's International Center as a space for international students. The building where the founder's family lived is now where students from abroad gather, which is a tidy piece of continuity.
Why It Was Registered
Building No. 17 holds the status of Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), registered on 2 September 1998, gazetted on 25 September, in the eleventh round. Its number is 13-0033, the last of the seven consecutive numbers issued to the university that day.
The registration system, introduced in 1996, differs from the designation route that produces Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures. Designation suits buildings whose value depends on remaining unaltered. Registration was written for modern architecture that stays in use and adapts, applying a notification requirement for substantial exterior change rather than a permission regime. A house that became an international students' lounge illustrates the point.
The registration criterion is that the building constitutes a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary is specific about what makes it significant: this is a reinforced concrete residence from the period when Raymond was emerging from under Frank Lloyd Wright's influence.
That phrase locates 1927 in Raymond's career precisely. He had come to Japan in 1919 as Wright's assistant on the Imperial Hotel and set up independently soon after. Through the mid-1920s his work carries Wright's horizontal emphasis and geometric ornament; by the 1930s he had arrived at the stripped, straightforward concrete architecture that made his reputation. Reischauer House falls in between. The Foreign Teachers' Residence shows the earlier condition, Yasui Memorial Hall the middle, and this building the point where the older vocabulary has largely gone.
Three small residences, three consecutive stages, all standing within a few minutes' walk of one another. Few campuses anywhere let you follow an architect's development this directly.
What to Look For
Compare rather than admire. Walk from the Foreign Teachers' Residence to Yasui Memorial Hall to this building and watch what happens to the eaves, the canopies, and the column heads. The decorated capitals and the ornamental flower-stand pedestals that organise the earliest of the three do not appear here. The composition rests on proportion and the placement of openings.
Note the mixed construction. Reinforced concrete with timber in part was a practical solution for a house of this size in the 1920s, and the combination shaped what Raymond could and could not do with the interior spaces. The tiled roof ties it back to the rest of the campus, as it does for all the early buildings here.
Take in the setting. The northeast corner keeps mature planting around the house, and the university describes the interior as retaining fine furnishings, giving the building an atmosphere separate from the activity elsewhere on the grounds. Even from outside, the difference in air is noticeable.
There is a footnote worth carrying with you. A. K. Reischauer's son Edwin O. Reischauer, born in Tokyo, became a scholar of Japan and later United States ambassador to the country. The connection is not part of the national record for this building and is offered as background rather than as an element of its heritage value.
Practical notes: the ground floor is in use by the International Center, so the interior is not open to general visitors. The exterior can be seen on a campus visit, which needs no advance booking; register at the front gate on arrival, and note that entry is by the front gate only with no visitor parking. Nishi-Ogikubo Station on the JR Chuo-Sobu Line is about twelve minutes on foot from the north exit, and buses from Kichijoji and Kami-Shakujii stop at Tokyo Joshidai-mae.
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Q&A
- Who was A. K. Reischauer?
- A missionary and theologian, one of the university's founders, who gathered support from North American Protestant denominations and served for many years as a managing director. He commissioned Antonin Raymond in 1921 to plan the campus, including the search for a site.
- What makes this building architecturally important?
- The national commentary describes it as a reinforced concrete residence from the period when Raymond was moving out from under Frank Lloyd Wright's influence, which places it at a documented turning point in his work.
- Is it used today?
- Yes. Since 2003 the ground floor has served the International Center as a space for international students.
- How does it relate to the other two residences?
- The Foreign Teachers' Residence, Yasui Memorial Hall, and Reischauer House stand in a triangular relationship in the northeast part of the grounds and were built in that order, which lets a visitor trace three stages of Raymond's development on foot.
- Can the interior be visited?
- Not as part of a general campus visit, since the ground floor is in institutional use. The exterior and its setting are accessible from the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Tokyo Woman's Christian University Building No. 17 (Reischauer House) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-6-1 Zenpukuji, Suginami-ku, Tokyo |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) |
| Registration number | 13-0033 |
| Registered | 2 September 1998 (gazetted 25 September 1998, eleventh round) |
| Registration criterion | Constitutes a model of design |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Date of construction | 1927 (Showa 2) |
| Structure | Reinforced concrete with partial timber construction, two storeys, tiled roof |
| Building area | 184 sq m |
| Original use | Family residence of A. K. Reischauer, a founder of the university |
| Architect | Antonin Raymond (1888-1976) |
| Category of type | Residence / building |
| Owner | Tokyo Woman's Christian University |
| Current use | International Center space for international students on the ground floor (since 2003) |
| Access | About 12 minutes on foot from the north exit of Nishi-Ogikubo Station (JR Chuo-Sobu Line) |
| Visiting | Exterior viewing on a general campus visit; no reservation required, register at the front gate. Interior not open to visitors. |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Tokyo Woman's Christian University Building No. 17 (Reischauer House)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000652
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Campus Guide
- https://www.twcu.ac.jp/main/about/campus/index.html
- Suginami Gaku Club (Suginami Ward official site): Tokyo Woman's Christian University
- https://www.suginamigaku.org/2023/10/tokyowc-u.html
- BUNGA NET: Sugiyama Masanori and Tokyo Woman's Christian University
- https://bunganet.tokyo/sugiyama03/
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Access
- https://www.twcu.ac.jp/main/access/index.html
Last verified: 2026.07.22