page_title: Imperial Hotel, Tokyo
section_title: 1923 Great Tokyo earthquake
hierarchical_section_title: Imperial Hotel, Tokyo / History / 1923 Great Tokyo earthquake
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 関東大震災直後の帝国ホテルライト館（左）。隣で延焼しているのは勧業銀行。 English: Imperial Hotel by Frank Lloyd Wright (left) shortly after the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923. To the right is Kangyō Bank on fire.
context_page_description: The Imperial Hotel is a hotel in Uchisaiwaicho, Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. It was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of Western visitors to Japan. The hotel site is located just south of the Imperial Palace grounds, next to the previous location of the Palace moat. The modern hotel overlooks the Palace, the 40-acre Western-style Hibiya Park, and the Yurakucho and Ginza neighborhoods.
  Three main buildings have stood on the hotel site, each of which embodied the finest Western design of its era. Including annexes, there have been at least 10 structures that have been part of the Imperial Hotel, including two designed by Frank Lloyd Wright:
  The original Imperial Hotel, designed by Yuzuru Watanabe
  Hotel Metropole in Tsukiji, purchased as an annex
  First Imperial Hotel annex
  A temporary annex, designed by Wright when the original hotel annex burnt
  New Imperial Hotel main building, designed by Wright
  1954 Imperial Hotel annex
  1958 Imperial Hotel annex
  Imperial Hotel parking structure
  Third main building, which replaced the Frank Lloyd Wright main building
  Imperial Tower, which replaced the 1954 and 1958 annexes
context_section_description: The structure famously survived the Great Kantō earthquake on September 1, 1923 (7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale (Mw)). A telegram from Baron Kihachiro Okura reported the following:
  "Hotel stands undamaged as a monument of your genius hundreds of homeless provided by perfectly maintained service congratulations[.] Congratulations[.]"
  Wright passed the telegram to journalists, helping to perpetuate a legend that the hotel was unaffected by the earthquake. In reality, the building had been damaged; the central section slumped, several floors bulged, four pieces of stonework fell to the ground, fans fell from the balcony, and electric ranges in the kitchen were toppled, starting a kitchen fire that was fairly quickly extinguished. It was also not the only building to survive, or the least damaged. On the insurance company damage scale (1–5), it was in the second best (light damage) category. According to the Tokyo Building Inspection Department, about 19% of the brick buildings and 20% of the steel and reinforced concrete buildings in the city were categorized in the best category (no damage) and thus performed better than the Imperial.
  The building's main failing was its foundation. Wright had intended the hotel to float on the site's alluvial mud "as a battleship floats on water", even during an earthquake.  This was accomplished by making it shallow, with broad footings. However, this proved an inadequate support and did not prevent the building from sinking into the mud to such an extent that it had to be demolished decades later. Furthermore, alluvial mud, such as that at the hotel's site, amplifies seismic waves.
  However, the hotel had several design features that minimized potential earthquake damage:
  Seismic separation joints, located about every 20 m (66 ft) along the building;
  Tapered walls, thicker on lower floors, increasing their strength;
  Cantilevered floors and balconies provided extra support for the floors;
  Suspended piping and wiring, instead of being encased in concrete, as well as smooth curves, making them more resistant to fracture;
  A copper roof eliminated the risk of falling debris created by traditional tile roofs;
  The reflecting pool provided a source of water for fire-fighting, saving the building from the post-earthquake firestorm.
  After the earthquake and subsequent fire, the Hotel temporarily hosted the American, British, French, and Italian embassies, as well as the Chinese and Swedish Ministers. The Grill Room, as well as some exterior space behind the hotel, was allocated to storage of relief supplies. The front entrance to the new South wing was given over for use by public utilities, and the press was given the banquet hall entrance and the promenade leading to the banquet hall. Until electric and water were restored, cooking was done outside, first on campfires, then on charcoal grills. For the first four days after the earthquake, the hotel fed all comers for free, up to 2,500 people twice daily. After that, the hotel charged only cost until the emergency was over. Electricity was restored to the hotel in September 4, and water on September 5. Relief supplies from other countries started arriving in Tokyo, and to the hotel, on September 3 with the arrival of the destroyer USS Stewart.
  In 1930, the Kōshien Hotel was constructed under the plans of Arata Endo, a disciple of Wright. The design was inspired by the Imperial Hotel.
caption: The hotel (left) shortly after the 1923 earthquake (on the right burning is the Kangyō Bank)
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