Kunio Mayekawa House

The House of Kunio Mayekawa, while built in 1942 as his personal residence, was also used as an office space. Its timeline can be divided into several distinct periods from its initial construction to its dismantling. First, from the time it was completed until the air raids of 1945, Kunio Mayekawa used the house as his personal residence. (A) However, when his Ginza office burned down due to the 1945 air raids, he used it as both his home and office from May of that year until 1954. (B) In 1954, Mayekawa married, and after moving his office to the MID Building in Yotsuya that August, he and his wife lived in the house together until its dismantling in 1973. (C) After its dismantling, the building’s materials were preserved at his villa in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture.

1. 1942 - May 1945: Single, residential use
2. 1945 - 1954: Married couple, residential and office use
3. 1954 - 1973: Married couple, residential use *Major renovation and expansion in 1956

The house was built in Kami-osaki, Shinagawa Ward, in 1942. This was during the Second World War when it was difficult to procure building materials. Additionally, construction of houses with a total floor area exceeding 100 square meters was restricted by law (the “Wooden Building Control Regulations" of 1939).