Architect - Team Zoo

Contractor - Mitsui Designtec

Brief description of works carried out –

One of only seventy such houses in Japan, built around 1900, with colonial style exteriors, Japanese roof tiling and Victorian interiors. This house, which was one of Kobe’s most popular tourist attractions was severely damaged by the Hanshin earthquake in 1995. Two of its outstanding features were the large plaster cornices and ceiling roses and its unpainted lime plastered walls. Cooks were given the task of replicating the mouldings in fibrous plaster based on details sent from Japan and for replastering the walls after any structural repairs were carried out, using a lime based plaster specially formulated for the project, to achieve a brilliant white finish as the walls would not be decorated but merely polished with a soap solution. It was a unique situation in that not many overseas plastering companies have previously been allowed to work in Japan and the Japanese Government had to grant permission for and issue work permits to enable our men to carry out the on site works. Whilst in Kobe, the men were treated very warmly by the Japanese people and we were honoured by the Duke of Kent offering to officially reopen the house to the public.