Raymond Design Tetsuma Akaboshi House, Tokyo, Saved

Last fall, the Musashino City, a western precinct of Tokyo, acquired the Raymond designed Tetsuma Akaboshi House. Built -in 1934 for industrialist Tetsuma Akaboshi, it is one of the finest intact examples of the Raymond's International Style steel-reinforced concrete houses of the pre-War era.  

Tetsuma Akaboshi had a remarkable connection to the United States not just through the Raymond's and their legacy but by his own education, notably in the Greater Philadelphia region. In 1901, Akaboshi came to America to attend the prestigious Lawrenceville School in central New Jersey and then went on to the University of Pennsylvania to complete his studies. When he first returned to Japan, he set up his household in the Roppongi precinct of Tokyo. Later he moved to Musashino after his home in Roppongi was destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923— the same event that would launch the Raymonds' career. Interestingly, Akaboshi's Roppongi property later became the site of the International House of Japan, designed by the Raymond protégé, Junzō Yoshimura (in 1954). Akaboshi, set on having a "Western-style home," had his first Musashino house imported from the United States before commissioning the Raymonds to start the design of his new home in 1933.

The sleek sprawling 37,600 square foot Modernist house sits upon an acre of Japanese gardens. Raymond scholar Ken Oshima writes, "The house features multiple windows, exposed balconies, and overhanging eaves, which extends along the full length of its southern elevation." The three-story house has a T-shaped configuration, with a slight dog-leg angle in its plan to provide privacy for the interior living areas from the front garden and the street. With its immense size and robust construction— a unique commodity for a Japanese home— the Tetsuma Akaboshi House was confiscated by the Japanese Military in 1944. It was taken over again at the end of World War II by the American occupying forces. In 1956, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur purchased the property to serve as an annex of its convent— utilizing it as a training facility. With roots dating back to the early 19th century France, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur's mission is to serve the neediest throughout the world, helping them obtain dignity and their rights through direct assistance and education. Considering the future of its mission financially, in 2018, the Sisters announced plans to sell the property within two years. Concerned that the property would most likely fall prey to redevelopment, architectural preservation groups organized to take action. 

Many of the Raymond's works in Japan have been lost. Those of the 1920s and '30s were destroyed in the war. Many of the post-war era were razed due to being located on high-valued real estate sites. The work of the Raymonds is not alone. Such a seminal work as Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel in Tokyo completed in 1922, fell to the wrecking-ball in 1968. The Raymond's Reader's Digest Building, Tokyo, suffered a similar fate; built in 1951, demolished in 1963. The architecture preservation movement, particularly concentrating on monuments of the modern era, is still in its infancy in Japan, but it is changing. The Akaboshi House has been a pioneering case.

Instrumental in the fight for the preservation of the Akaboshi House is Mr. Yuichi Takeuchi. Attorney Takeuchi, a devout Catholic, represents and is an advocate for the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and their interests. He understands and even has a deep reverence for the architectural legacy and cultural significance of Antonin and Noémi Raymond and their work. Most importantly, he understood the threat of the Akaboshi House's potential demolition if it fell into the hands of an unsympathetic financially-driven developer. In August of 2019, Mr. Takeuchi organized a preservation group dedicated to saving the Akaboshi House. "The first member of the group was my mother, NorikoTakeuchi," says Mr. Takeuchi proudly, "from there, the group kept growing." Securing the house was an arduous task, taking over twenty city review-board meetings and several events showcasing the Akaboshi House itself. One of these events was hosted by Docomomo of Japan. 

Docomono stands for: "International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement." The Raymond Farm had hosted a tour for Docomomo, International, in 2015. Docomomo is an International not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving modern architecture, landscape, and design throughout the world. 

Yuko Nishimura, the secretariat of Docomomo Japan, corresponded to the RFC, "we held a very special event at the Akaboshi House in September 2020." Featuring regional and international scholars and representatives for the Sisters of Notre Dame, officials of the City of Musashino, and all those interested—this event was pivotal in saving the house from possible destruction. "Finally, Mr. Yuichi Takeuchi cheerily states, "the City of Musashino was moved and took steps to acquire the property. The city agreed to purchase the land alone (at its assessed value), and the Sisters of Notre Dame donated the house as a gift to the Musashino-Shi. (City of Musashino). The Akaboshi House has been saved. Today, it is managed by the Preservation Society "Keimei-kai." The agreement makes Tetsuma Akaboshi House accessible to the public as a cultural/historic site.