Josiah Conder (architect)
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United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
architect who worked as a foreign advisor to the government of Meiji period
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He designed numerous public buildings in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, including the Rokumeikan
Rokumeikan
The was a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which was to become a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Josiah Conder, a prominent Western architect...
, and educated many Japanese architects who later won distinction (notably Tatsuno Kingo
Tatsuno Kingo
was a Japanese architect born in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, Kyushu.He studied in Japan at the Imperial College of Engineering where he was one of the first to graduate in 1879 under British architect Josiah Conder. He visited England and worked in the office of William Burges in 1881-2. He taught...
and Katayama Tōkuma
Katayama Tōkuma
was a Japanese architect who designed the original buildings for the Imperial Nara Museum as well as the Kyoto Imperial Museum and was significant in introducing Western, particularly French architecture into Japan....
), and hence Japanese called him the "father of Japanese modern architecture".
Early career
Condor was born in KensingtonKensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as the son of a banker. After graduating from the University of London
University of London
-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...
, Condor worked for the Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
architect William Burges
William Burges (architect)
William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...
for two years. In 1876 he was awarded the Soane Medal, before being chosen by the Royal Institute of British Architects
Royal Institute of British Architects
The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
for the post of professor of architecture at the Imperial College of Engineering
Imperial College of Engineering
The Imperial College of Engineering was founded as a university at Tokyo in 1873, though its predecessor the existed from 1871. The name "Kobu Daigakko" dates from 1877. In modern-day parlance it would have been called an institute of technology....
, in Tokyo.
Career in Japan
Invited by the Japanese government, Conder taught at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokyo from 1877. He was the school's first professor of architecture. He was charged with transforming the MarunouchiMarunouchi
Marunouchi is a commercial district of Tokyo located in Chiyoda between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace. The name, meaning "inside the circle", derives from its location within the palace's outer moat...
area into a London-style business district. He was a teacher of five famous Japanese architects: Tatsuno Kingo, Katayama Tōkuma, Sone Tatsuzō, Satachi Shichijirō and Shimoda Kikutarō who were among the first Japanese architects to build western-style buildings in Japan in the Meiji
Meiji period
The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...
era.
Despite being resident in Japan he kept up a professional affiliation with the Royal Institute of British Architects, becoming an Associate in 1874 and a Fellow in 1884. He became a part time lecturer until, in 1888, he set up his own practice. Some of his former students set up the Architectural Institute of Japan
Architectural Institute of Japan
The Architectural Institute of Japan, or AIJ, is a Japanese professional body for architects, building engineers, and researchers in architecture....
and Conder was made its first honorary president. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasures
Order of the Sacred Treasures
The is a Japanese Order, established on January 4, 1888 by Emperor Meiji of Japan as the Order of Meiji. It is awarded in eight classes . It is generally awarded for long and/or meritorious service and considered to be the lowest of the Japanese orders of merit...
(3rd class) in 1894.
Condor developed a keen interest in Japanese arts, and after a long period of petitioning, was finally accepted to study painting with the artist Kawanabe Kyōsai
Kawanabe Kyosai
was a Japanese artist, in the words of a critic, "an individualist and an independent, perhaps the last virtuoso in traditional Japanese painting"....
. He was given the name by his teacher (incorporating the character 'ei/hide' from the Japanese name for Britain).
His studies led to a number of publications, among them 'The Flowers of Japan and The Art of Floral Arrangement' (1891), 'Landscape Gardening in Japan' (1893) and 'Paintings and Studies by Kawanabe Kyosai' (1911).
In 1915 Tokyo Imperial University awarded him an honorary doctorate. He remained in Japan for the rest of his life. His grave is at the temple of Gokoku-ji
Gokoku-ji
is a Shingon Buddhist temple in Tokyo's Bunkyō.-History:This Buddhist temple was established by the fifth shogun Tokugawa, Tsunayoshi, who dedicated it to his mother...
in Bunkyo, Tokyo
Bunkyo, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. Situated in the middle of the ward area, Bunkyō is a residential and educational center. Beginning in the Meiji period, literati like Natsume Sōseki, as well as scholars and politicians have lived there...
.
Notable buildings
Conder's architectural designs incorporated a wide variety of styles, including both European and colonial elements. Although he designed over fifty buildings during his career in Japan, many are no longer extant.Notable buildings surviving today are the residence of Iwasaki Yanosuke, founder of the Mitsubishi group in Yushima (1896, now the Kyu-Iwasaki-tei
Kyu-Iwasaki-tei Garden
is located in Taitō, Tokyo. It is the former estate of the Iwasaki clan who were the founders of Mitsubishi; the name Kyu-Iwasaki-tei means Old Iwasaki house...
) and the Mitsui Club in Mita (1913).
- Kummo-in school for the blind (1879)
- Ueno Imperial Museum, Tokyo (1881)
- RokumeikanRokumeikanThe was a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which was to become a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Josiah Conder, a prominent Western architect...
, Tokyo (1883) - University of Tokyo's faculty of law and literature building, Hongo, Tokyo (1884)
- Iwasaki Villa, Fukagawa, Tokyo (1889); Burnt down by 1923 Great Kantō earthquake1923 Great Kanto earthquakeThe struck the Kantō plain on the Japanese main island of Honshū at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes...
- Holy Resurrection Cathedral (or Nokorai-do, 1891)
- Navy Ministry Building, Kasumigaseki, Tokyo (1895)
- Seisen UniversitySeisen University (Tokyo)is a private Catholic liberal arts women's college in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1938, and it was chartered as a women's four-year college in 1950....
Main Hall (1915) - Furukawa Toranosuke Villa, Tokyo (1917)
First book in English on ikebana
After a lecture at the Asiatic Society of Japan Condor wrote a book on ikebanaIkebana
is the Japanese art of flower arrangement, also known as .-Etymology:"Ikebana" is from the Japanese and . Possible translations include "giving life to flowers" and "arranging flowers".- Approach :...
in English called "The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement". He studied Enshu school ikebana.