Tokyo Woman's Christian University Building No. 14 (Yasui Memorial Hall): The Dean's House, and the Smallest of the Seven
At 111 square metres of building area, this is the smallest of the seven registered buildings on the Zenpukuji campus. It was built as a house for one person: Yasui Tetsu, who served as the university's first dean from its founding in 1918 and later became its second president.
Yasui's biography explains why the house exists at all. She had studied in Britain as a government-sponsored student and came away convinced that Japanese women should have access to university education without discrimination. At the 1900 Paris Exposition she met Nitobe Inazo, who was serving as a judge there and had been arguing for women's education in Japan for years. Eighteen years after that meeting, with the backing of North American Protestant denominations organised through the missionary and theologian A. K. Reischauer, the university opened with Nitobe as its first president and Yasui as dean. Building No. 14 was where she lived while doing that work.
The structure is reinforced concrete, two storeys, tiled roof. Small, solid, and built to last, which it has.
Since the university's Christian Center took over the building, it has been the base for Christian activities and events on campus. A house built for one woman's work now serves the institutional life she helped establish.
Why It Was Registered
Building No. 14 is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings). It was registered on 2 September 1998, gazetted on 25 September, in the eleventh round, under registration number 13-0031.
Registration is a lighter instrument than the designation system that produces Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures. It dates from 1996 and was created because Japan's modern architectural stock was being lost faster than designation could act. Owners file notification before substantially altering the exterior; the building otherwise carries on in use. Seven buildings here hold the status, and all remain part of a functioning campus.
The criterion is that the building constitutes a model of design, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary makes a precise chronological argument for it. Building No. 14 belonged to the first construction phase authorised under Antonin Raymond's 1921 campus plan, but work did not begin until August 1924, after the Great Kanto Earthquake. That delay had a consequence visible in the design. Rather than resembling the Foreign Teachers' Residence, whose construction started before the earthquake and which carries a strongly Wrightian character, this house is closer in its forms to Reischauer House, begun roughly a year later.
That observation is more interesting than it first appears. Raymond arrived in Japan in 1919 as Frank Lloyd Wright's assistant on the Imperial Hotel, and the years between 1924 and 1927 are when he worked his way out from under Wright's manner toward his own. Because the earthquake pushed these three small residences into different construction slots, the campus preserves the sequence: Foreign Teachers' Residence, Yasui Memorial Hall, Reischauer House, each a step further from Wright. The buildings stand within sight of one another, which makes the progression legible on foot.
What to Look For
Approach with the other two residences in mind. This is a comparison exercise, and it works best if you walk between the three. Look at the treatment of the eaves: how far do they project, and how insistently do they run as a horizontal line? At the Foreign Teachers' Residence the answer is far and very insistently. Here the projection has been pulled back and the effect is quieter.
Look at ornament, or its retreat. The decorative capitals and flower-stand pedestals that mark the earlier residence do not organise this facade in the same way. Raymond is beginning to let the concrete mass and the openings carry the composition alone. It is the same architect, three years on.
Consider the scale as well. At 111 square metres this is a house, not an institution dressed as one, and it was designed to be that. Yasui Tetsu lived here rather than in an official residence at some remove from the students; the location within the grounds was a decision about how a women's university should be run.
The building is in active use as the Christian Center, so interiors are not open to general visitors. The exterior can be seen from the campus grounds.
Visiting: general campus visits require no reservation, with registration at the front gate on arrival. Entry is by the front gate only and there is no visitor parking. The walk from the north exit of Nishi-Ogikubo Station on the JR Chuo-Sobu Line takes about twelve minutes; buses from Kichijoji and Kami-Shakujii stop at Tokyo Joshidai-mae.
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Q&A
- Who was Yasui Tetsu?
- An educator who studied in Britain as a government-sponsored student and became the university's first dean at its founding in 1918, later serving as its second president. This building was her residence.
- Why does it look different from the Foreign Teachers' Residence?
- Construction began in August 1924, after the Great Kanto Earthquake, rather than before it. The national commentary notes that its forms are closer to Reischauer House, started about a year later, than to the earlier and more strongly Wrightian Foreign Teachers' Residence.
- What is it used for now?
- It serves as the university's Christian Center, the base for Christian activities and events on campus.
- How small is it compared with the other registered buildings?
- Its building area is 111 square metres, the smallest of the seven. For comparison, Building No. 6 covers 1,453 square metres and the Chapel and Auditorium 1,186.
- Can I go inside?
- The interior is not open to general visitors, since the building is in institutional use. The exterior is visible from the campus grounds during a normal visit.
Basic Information
| Name | Tokyo Woman's Christian University Building No. 14 (Yasui Memorial Hall) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-6-1 Zenpukuji, Suginami-ku, Tokyo |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) |
| Registration number | 13-0031 |
| Registered | 2 September 1998 (gazetted 25 September 1998, eleventh round) |
| Registration criterion | Constitutes a model of design |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Date of construction | 1925 (Taisho 14); work begun August 1924 |
| Structure | Reinforced concrete, two storeys, tiled roof |
| Building area | 111 sq m |
| Original use | Residence of Yasui Tetsu, first dean of the university |
| Architect | Antonin Raymond (1888-1976) |
| Category of type | Residence / building |
| Owner | Tokyo Woman's Christian University |
| Current use | Christian Center |
| 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. 14 (Yasui Memorial Hall)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000650
- 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
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Access
- https://www.twcu.ac.jp/main/access/index.html
- Tokyo Woman's Christian University: Campus Visits
- https://www.twcu.ac.jp/main/admissions/visit.html
Last verified: 2026.07.22