Shidara Sadao (設楽貞雄)
Sadao SHIDARA (July 3, 1864 - December 15, 1943) was a private architect in Kansai from the Meiji era to the early Showa era. He is known for constructing the building plans for Shin Sekai (New World), which became a well known landmark in Osaka in the early Taisho era, as well as designing the Tsutenkaku Tower (the first one, different from the present one).
Career
1864: He was born as the second son of Yahei SHIDARA, a feudal retainer of the Nihonmatsu clan, in Motomiya Town (present-day Motomiya City), Adachi County, Fukushima Prefecture.
(Later, his father was killed in the Boshin War.)
1888: He entered Architecture Department of Koshu School among its first class of students.
1889: He graduated from the Architecture Department of Koshu School.
1891: He joined the Nippon Doboku Gaisha (Japan civil engineering company).
1892: He entered government service in Naishoryo (Bureau of Skilled Artisans) of Kunaisho (Imperial Household Ministry). He took charge of a site in the Imperial Kyoto National Museum.
1896: He was invited to Kuwabara Sei Kogyo Jimusho (Sei KUWABARA Industrial Office) and worked under Hanroku YAMAGUCHI.
1899: He became Manager and Deputy Director of Yamaguchi Hanroku Jimusho (Hanroku YAMAGUCHI Office).
1900: He became the Construction Sub-section Manager of Sanyo Railway Company, Ltd.
1907: He established Kobe Kenchiku Jimusho (Kobe Building Office) (later Shidara Kenchiku Komusho [Shidara Building Company]).
1911: He became a consultant for the Osaka Tochi Tatemono Gaisha (Osaka Land and Building Company), and took part in the Shin Sekai Amusement Grounds Plan.
1928: He went on a inspection tour in Europe.
1933: He closed down Shidara Kenchiku Komusho.
1936: He was appointed as a Vice-chairman of Architectural Association of Japan.
1943: He died at his home in Suma, Kobe.
Style of His Works
His early works are characterized by innovative art and design with a strong secession (an artistic movement in Germany during the 19th century) influence (for example, the Osaka Dojima Rice Exchange and Arisawa Ophthalmic Clinic), but are prone to collapsing.
However, with the Shin Sekai Tsutenkaku Tower, he concentrated key points like being faithful to the style of the Effel Tower; for this task, he employed Yoshiaki HATTA, a distant relative and a railway engineer, as a person in charge of the structure.
In the Taisho era, since the graduates from Nagoya Advanced Technical College and Kyoto Imperial University began to enter his company, he began to produce more works of classical and stable designs like the Renaissance style(for example, the headquarters of Uchida Kisen and the head office of the former Thirty-Eighth Bank).
In the case of houses, his early wooden works (for example, a house for a foreign engineer of the Amiboshi factory of Dai-nippon Celluloid) were of colonial styles with a flavor of secession. From a recently discovered photo album, it can be seen that among the houses he designed, the Sanjin MURANO residence was an ambitious work which included an art nouveau interior (examples: the newel posts of the stairs, the fireplace, and the furniture). In the Taisho era, he accumulated a large repertory of works from the large-scale Western-style houses with secession emphasis like the former Okazaki family house and the former Nishio family house, and the reinforced concrete houses of semi-Western style such as the Sawano residence, to the Japanese style residences with a flavor of Goten (palace) including the Sawada residence and the Japanese house of the Shinya UCHIDA residence.
Important works
(During the days of Construction Sub-section Manager of Sanyo Railway Company, Ltd)
Takatori factory building (Kobe City, about 1900, not in existance today)
The triumphal arch before the Hiroshima army station platform (Hiroshima Prefecture, 1905, not in existance today)
Shimonoseki Sanyo Hotel (the first building, Shimonoseki City, not in existance today)
(During the days of Kobe [later Shidara] Kenchiku Komusho)
The Takuzo USHIBA residence (Shioya of Kobe, 1907, not in existance today)
The Sanjin MURANO residence (Higashisuma of Kobe, 1908, not in existance today)
The headquarters of Nippon Keori (Kobe City, 1908, not existing)
The Kakogawa factory of Nippon Keori (Kakogawa City of Hyogo Prefecture, 1908)
The Amiboshi factory of Dai-nippon Celluloid (Himeji City of Hyogo Prefecture, 1908)
The Osaka Dojima Rice Exchange (Osaka City, 1910, not in existance today)
The headquarters' building of Kyoto Dento (Kyoto City, 1912, not in existance today)
The headquarters' building of Kobe Dento (Shinkaichi of Kobe, 1912, not in existance today)
Tsutenkaku Tower (Shinsekai of Osaka City, 1912, not in existance today)
Jurakukan (Shinkaichi of Kobe, 1913, not in existance today)
Sennichi Tochi Rakutenchi (Osaka City, 1914, not in existance today)
Arisawa Ophthalmic Clinic (Osaka City, 1914, not in existance today)
The head office of Hyogo Prefecture Noko Bank (Sakaemachi-dori of Kobe City, 1916, not in existance today).
The headquarters of Uchida Kisen (Kyu-kyoryuchi [former foreign settlement] of Kobe City, 1917, not in existance today)
The former Okazaki family house (Suma of Kobe, 1920)
The former Nishio family house (Suma of Kobe, 1920)
The Kusunoki-cho branch office of the former Japan Shogyo (trade) Bank (Kobe City, 1923, demolished in May, 2008)
Kosho Building (Osaka City, 1926, not in existance today)
Nagase Shoten (Osaka City, 1928)