Old finance company “Sogomujin”

Quietly standing in a corner along Kanda sakura street, there was standing this building with tasteful tiles. Completed in 1930 (Showa year 5), the building is a particular building appreciated by architect lovers. Around the reconstruction time after the great Kanto earthquake that happen in the year 12 of the Taisho era, many of the western style buildings were rebuilt around the city center with better resistance in case of other earthquakes. The damaged area is located in the kanda district close to the yasukuni street, the reconstruction plan was to be deploy along that street that resemble the Koto and Asakusa district.
What is impressive is the appearance of the facade, made with terra cotta and that has what seems like scratches on them. The scratch facade is a style invented by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and become popular everywhere, it is used as a based for the facade of this building or for example on the imperial hotel. This Imperial Hotel is also known as a robust architecture that did not collapse in the Kanto Earthquake.
The building was build by the Ando group who also worked on the Tokyo Central Telegraph building – made of concrete – during the reconstruction period after war.
Although it is not a grand and impressive architecture, there is many things to see such as the quadruped arch windows on the first floor and the overhang below the window of the third floor. Also the two modest entrance of the ground floor. In addition, there was a narrow entrance along sakura street that is not in used anymore. There was also an Oriental theater with a weird architecture as well that was quite frequented especially during the war.
Large buildings are lined up in the area, although the characteristic terracotta has been partially removed, it still has a historic appearance. Despite being a small addition to the architectural world, the building still stand strong at the corner of the street and it does seem to want to stay there forever.

• Sogomujin Finance Company
• 2-19 Kanda Jimbocho, Chiyoda-ku