ginza

Main Street, Tokio

from New York Public Library

• 1 older comment, and then…
• Rob Ketcherside said:

  I believe this photo dates between 1877 and 1882. Written on the bottom right of the card is "Principal Street", on top of "Ginza, Tokio". This is the famous Renga-gai (bricktown or brick street) in Ginza, Tokyo. It was an experiment at completely redeveloping a neighborhood in fireproof brick. In 1872 yet another massive fire spread through Tokyo. Ginza Renga-gai was completed in 1877, designed by British architect and engineer T J Waters (Japanese). The street itself was a first for Tokyo. Pedestrian areas are separated from wheeled traffic, and gas lamps light the road at night. Arcades visibile on the opposite side of the street were copied from Tuscany, while the entire street sceen evoked Regents Street in London. Unfortunately Waters' northern design skills created buildings that baked their occupants in Tokyo's hot summer months. The street itself flooded horribly in Tokyo's typhoon season. The brick neighborhood was not expanded beyond Ginza, for these reasons or perhaps simply because it was too abnormal for Japanese people to live in. Renga-gai was destroyed by the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. This photo predates the streetcar line visible in the Edo-Tokyo Museum model. A horse-drawn streetcar was installed in 1882, according to "This Book Will Teach You All About Architecture" (建築のすべてがわかかる本, 2007), which I pulled most of this information from. The colorization of this photo seems totally fanciful. I haven't found evidence of anything but beigish or red color for the buildings.

• Rob Ketcherside said:

  Meijitaisho.net has the same photo in black and white. They date it around 1877. Meijitaisho points out the Hattori Watch Shop (服部時計店) on the left which closed in 1894. They also notice the very top of the tower of Asano News (朝野新聞社社屋) jutting above the watch shop. They peg the photo location as looking north from the Ginza-8 intersection, underneath the Capital Expressway. Here.

• Rob Ketcherside said:

  This photo was discussed in the Flickr Commons research thread. I've also discussed it on my blog, combining the information.

• BigBean said:

  Hi, this photo has featured in one of the many discussion threads in the Flickr Commons group, and we would love it if you would also add it to the group pool!

• Rob Ketcherside said:

  Now: