My dream house in Tokyo is located on the top of the steep Nakazawa slope in the Kudan-kita 1-chome district, exactly at
Kudankita 1-15-9. It is a short distance from the Grand Palace Hotel. It is even closer to the Philippines Embassy which shares the same Spanish
hacienda atmosphere. It must have been some extremely wealthy people residence. It is now empty, not crumbling but in
need of repairs that will certainly never come. The tiny ridiculous paid parking spot on one corner and ugly beverage vending machines are omen that this will be replaced in no time by a luxurious but bland condominium like the one already standing behind it. Close to the Yasukuni Shrine and the beautiful Kita-no-maru park, this stately building could be turned into a high class restaurant, a five stars
Relais et Chateaux in a residential and green area notoriously lacking anything, no shops or restaurants, unless you go back down the slope to Kudanshita.
This place must have had a complex family history I have no clue about. The arched windows are all blinded. I fathom about the look of a garden I assume to exist but totally invisible behind the high walls. Children must have played there. In the heigh ceiling rooms, somewhere there must have been a piano. I wonder if the inside is of Japanese or Western style, or a mix of the two. The porch is of Japanese style but with yellow stucco tone that gives the whole a Southern kind of mood. There is a small door for the servants that used it when back from a errand to buy food in the downhill area that was - according to my past local barber, a thriving neighborhood with fresh food shops for fish and vegetables, and even shops selling futon that have all disappeared. I wish I could visit this house of dream before the bulldozers get in. If you know of that estate in Kudankita 1-15-9, please drop me a line.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, December 2nd, 2004 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Promenades in Chiyoda Ward.
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