Josiah Conder (architect)
| Josiah Conder | |
|---|---|
 Josiah Conder | |
| Born |
September 28, 1852 London, England |
| Died |
June 21, 1920 (aged 67) Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | English |
| Alma mater | University of London |
| Awards | Order of the Sacred Treasures |
Josiah Conder (September 28, 1852 – June 21, 1920) was a British architect who worked as a foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period Japan. He designed numerous public buildings in Tokyo, including the Rokumeikan, and educated many Japanese architects who later won distinction (notably Tatsuno Kingo and Katayama Tōkuma), and hence Japanese called him the "father of Japanese modern architecture."[1]
Early career
Conder was born in Kensington, London as the son of a banker. After graduating from the University of London, Conder worked for the Gothic architect William Burges for two years. In 1876 he was awarded the Soane Medal, before being chosen by the Royal Institute of British Architects for the post of professor of architecture at the Imperial College of Engineering, in Tokyo.[2]
Career in Japan
Invited by the Japanese government, Conder taught at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo from 1877. He was the school's first professor of architecture.[3] He was charged with transforming the Marunouchi area into a London-style business district. He was a teacher of five famous Japanese architects: Tatsuno Kingo, Katayama Tōkuma, Sone Tatsuzō, Satachi Shichijirō and Shimoda Kikutarō who were among the first Japanese architects to build western-style buildings in Japan in the Meiji era.[4][5]
Despite being resident in Japan he kept up a professional affiliation with the Royal Institute of British Architects, becoming an Associate in 1874 and a Fellow in 1884. He became a part-time lecturer until, in 1888, he set up his own practice. Some of his former students set up the Architectural Institute of Japan and Conder was made its first honorary president.[6] He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures (3rd class) in 1894.
Conder developed a keen interest in Japanese arts, and after a long period of petitioning, was finally accepted to study painting with the artist Kawanabe Kyōsai. He was given the name Akihide (暁英) by his teacher (incorporating the character 'ei/hide' from the Japanese name for Britain).
His studies led to a number of publications, among them 'The Flowers of Japan and The Art of Floral Arrangement' (1891), 'Landscape Gardening in Japan' (1893) and 'Paintings and Studies by Kawanabe Kyosai' (1911).
In 1915 Tokyo Imperial University awarded him an honorary doctorate.[7] He remained in Japan for the rest of his life. His grave is at the temple of Gokoku-ji in Bunkyo, Tokyo.
Notable buildings
Conder's architectural designs incorporated a wide variety of styles, including both European and colonial elements. Although he designed over fifty buildings during his career in Japan, many are no longer extant.
Notable buildings surviving today are the residence of Iwasaki Yanosuke, founder of the Mitsubishi group in Yushima (1896, now the Kyu-Iwasaki-tei) and the Mitsui Club in Mita (1913).
- Kummo-in school for the blind (1879)
- Ueno Imperial Museum, Tokyo (1881)
- Rokumeikan, Tokyo (1883)
- University of Tokyo's faculty of law and literature building, Hongo, Tokyo (1884)
- Iwasaki Villa, Fukagawa, Tokyo (1889); Burnt down by 1923 Great Kantō earthquake
- Holy Resurrection Cathedral (or Nikorai-do, 1891)
- Navy Ministry Building, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo (1895)
- Seisen University Main Hall (1915)
- Furukawa Toranosuke Villa, Tokyo (1917)
First book in English on ikebana
After a lecture at the Asiatic Society of Japan Conder wrote a book on ikebana in English called "The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement". He studied Enshu school ikebana.
Gallery
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Tokyo Imperial Household Museum
-
Rokumeikan
-
Navy Ministry of Japan
-
No1 Mitsubishi Office Building Tokyo
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Iwasaki-old-house
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Mausoleum of Yanosuke Iwasaki's Family
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Tsunamachi Mitsui Club
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Rokkaen Yo-kan
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Myouhouji tetsumon
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See also
- British–Japanese relations
Notes
- ↑ Watanabe, Toshio (2006). "Japanese Imperial Architecture". In Ellen P, Conant. Challenging Past And Present: The Metamorphosis of Nineteenth-Century Japanese Art. University of Hawaii Press.
- ↑ Stewart (2002), p33
- ↑ Stewart (2002), p33
- ↑ National Diet Library: "Imperial Household Museum of Kyoto -- Western-style Building from the Meiji Era."
- ↑ Checkland, Olive (2003) Japan and Britain after 1859: Creating cultural bridges RoutledgeCurzon, London, page 78, ISBN 0-7007-1747-1
- ↑ Stewart (2002), p36
- ↑ Stewart (2002), p37
References
- Dallas Finn, Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan, Weatherhill, 1995 ISBN 978-0-8348-0288-9
- Dallas Finn, 'Josiah Conder (1852–1920) and Meiji Architecture', Ch. 5, Britain & Japan: Themes and Personalities, ed. Hugh Cortazzi and Gordon Daniels, London: Routledge, 1991. ISBN 0-415-05966-6
- Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 10-ISBN 0-674-01753-6; 13-ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 58053128
- Shuichi Kato (translated and adapted by Junko Abe and Leza Lowitz), Japan: Spirit & Form, 1987-88 (1994), ISBN 0-8048-1969-6
- Stewart, David B (2002). The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture, From the Founders to Shinohara and Isozaki. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4770029331.
External links
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