Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse

What Is the Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse?

The Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse (旧馬場家住宅前蔵, Kyū-Baba-ke Jūtaku Maegura) is a three-storey earthen-walled storehouse from the early Meiji era (1868 to 1882) in Higashiiwasemachi, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 1, 2016.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a tiled-roof Dozo-zukuri building with a building area of 47 square meters, registration number 16-0113. It stands right against the north side of the main house, long side to Omachi Street, and it is the only one of the Baba storehouses you can see from the street.

The city's leaflet groups the Maegura with the first and second storehouses as the property's three three-storey storehouses. It is the smallest of the three.

Why the Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse Was Registered

The Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Shoulder to shoulder with the main house, it forms part of the merchant family's street front.

Yet it has no door on the street. According to the agency, the entrance is on the main-house side and is reached across the house's earthen-floored area. The storehouse could only be entered from inside the family's own premises, a sensible arrangement for protecting goods and valuables.

What to Notice About the Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse

From Omachi Street, look for the two tall windows in the street wall of the Maegura. Each rises through both the first and second floors, and each is enclosed on the outside by a projecting bay fitted with sliding glass doors. Glass bays on a plastered storehouse wall are a small sign of Meiji-era modernity in this port town.

The doorway on the house side is carefully made too. Its double-leaf earthen doors sit in a frame shaped like a shrine gateway, and the door edges are stepped in four tiers of Kakegonuri, thick plaster rebates that close tightly to keep out fire.

The same gateway-shaped frame and four-tier rebates appear on the doors of the First and Second Storehouses further back on the lot.

Seeing the Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse

The exterior of the Former Baba Family Residence Front Storehouse can be seen from Omachi Street at any time. Facing the main house, it is on your right. The glass bays show best from the opposite side of the street.

Toyama City's visitor information does not say if the storehouse interior is open, so ask at the reception desk in the main house.