BUILDINGS

Imperial Hotel Annex    Tokyo, 1920

A short circuit sparked a fire in the old Imperial Hotel annex at the end of 1919, burning the 42-room building to the ground.

Wright and his staff immediately suspended construction on the new Imperial so that a new annex could be built. Because of the intense time pressure and its temporary nature, the annex's design featured few Wrightian touches. The 2-story wooden building, wrapped around an interior garden, opened after just 5 months, in May 1920.

The new annex burned down in the fires from the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.  (KS)