This postcard of around 19071 shows two important buildings on the Bund in Oura-Sagarimatsu. The large white building is the Nagasaki branch of the Hongkong Shanghai Bank, the brown building on the right is the Nagasaki Hotel.
At that time, they were right on the edge of Nagasaki harbor, just a fifteen minute walk from Dejima (also: Deshima).
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Company Limited, now known as HSBC, was established in Hong Kong in March 1865 (Genji 2) to finance the growing trade between China and Europe. In 1866 (Keio 2), it launched its first branch in Japan.2
The bank closed its doors in 1931 (Showa 6), and in 1940 (Showa 15) the building was acquired by Nagasaki Prefecture. It was initially used as headquarters of the Nagasaki Police Department and was later converted into the Reference Library of History and Folk Art. The building once again changed functions when it re-opened as the Memorial Hall in October 1996 (Heisei 8).
The building on this photo was designed by Japanese architect Kikutaro Shimoda (1866-1931) and opened in 1905 (Meiji 38). It still stands and is the only remaining building designed by Shimoda. The first floor of the three-story building features Chicago-style windows with repetitive curved arches and an arcade. Circular Corinthian columns embrace the second and third floor. The building is crowned with a pediment.
It is now a National Important Cultural Asset and the first floor displays the bank’s original interior, with historical floor displays and a tearoom on the other floors.3
The Nagasaki Hotel was built in 1898 (Meiji 31) and considered to be one of the finest Western-style hotels in the Far East. The hotel did excellent business until visitors to Nagasaki were restricted during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. This apparently weakened the hotel so much that it wasn’t able to survive the economic depression of the early 1920’s. The doors closed forever in 1924 (Taisho 13), and the building was pulled down soon after.4
Notes
1 I have seen a version of this card with a postmark of July 1907, which determines that the photo must have been taken that year, in 1906, or possibly shortly after the opening of the Hongkong Shanghai Bank in 1905.
2 Wikipedia. The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.
3 長崎県観光情報システム。Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Building. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.
4 Nagasaki Foreign Settlement Research Group. Nagasaki Hotel. Retrieved on 2008-07-29.
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Old Photos of Japan aims to be your personal museum for Japan's visual heritage and to bring the experiences of everyday life in old Japan to you.
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Kjeld Duits
Reference for Citations
Duits, Kjeld (). Nagasaki 1900s: Buildings on the Bund, OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. Retrieved on December 6, 2024 (GMT) from https://www.oldphotosjapan.com/photos/324/buildings-on-bund
Bernd Lepach
Hello,
I read with interest your contribution on the Nagasaki Bund depicting the buildings of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank and the Nagasaki Hotel.
As for the latter building you also Show an advertisment with Bindo Bay as Manager. According to my present research B. Bay was proprietor of the Belle Vue Hotel.
http://www.meiji-portraits.de/meiji_portraits_b.html#20090527093402531_1_2_3_56_1
Do you know what has happened to the Belle Vue Hotel? And maybe even to Mr. Bay? I have another item of 1904 in which a certain G. L. A. Smith is mentioned as Manager of the Nagasaki Hotel.
I was very grateful if you could clear up this Situation. Thank you in advance and
Kind Regards from Germany,
Bernd
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John Rochon
Greetings From Canada!
I am delighted to have found your OLD PHOTOS of JAPAN. I was looking for an image of the Nagasaki Hotel in 1903, as I have a letter written from the hotel in 1903 on Nagasaki Hotel letterhead – B. Bay, Manager.
Many thanks for satisfying my curiosity,
John S. Rochon
Sarnia, ON Canada.
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Kjeld Duits (Author)
Oh that is cool, John. Do you have a scan that you can share?
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Noel
I did a little research on the Nagasaki Hotel and I found a bunch of interesting facts:
1) The Nagasaki Hotel was established by Frederick Ringer and designed by a British architect Josiah Conder. Source: Holme, Ringer & Company, The Rise and Fall of a British Enterprise in Japan 1868-1940
2) The cutlery set from the Nagasaki Hotel had been produced by famed British silverware maker Mappin & Webb (purveyors to the British royal family since 1897). Source: The Little World of Yotsuba & Clan Blog
3) Electric instalation was provided by Western Light and Power Construction Company of San Francisco. Source: Commercial Japan in 1899: Area, Population, Production, Railways, Telegraphs, Transportation Routes, Foreign Commerce, and Commerce of the United States with Japan
4) A. Diessing was the hotel’s assistant manager. Source: Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China
5) About the closing of the Nagasaki Hotel. Source: Nagasaki: The British Experience, 1854-1945
6) A postcard dated 1903 with a reproduction of a photograph of Nagasaki Hotel without the Shanghai Bank
7) Postcard front view of the Nagasaki Hotel
8) Luggage or trunk label from the Nagasaki Hotel when the manager was Albert E. Willsher.
9) Second luggage label
10) Nagasaki Hotel Business Flyer and Guide Business Card Ephemera
11) News about the re-opening of the Hotel in 1913:
THE Nagasaki Nichi-Nichi Shimbun came out with some cheery news the other day. Under the heading, “Re-opening of the Nagasaki Hotel.” it said:-“The above hotel, which has been closed for a long time, has been purchased by a Japanese who will reopen it. It is supposed that the verandah will be rebuilt and a thorough renovation made of the premises. A three-storied Japanese-style building will be erected on the adjoining ground and Visitors will be able to choose between Japanese and foreign accommodation. Two motor cars and a steam launch will be added to the equipment, being necessary in these days for the ideal hotel. An agreement for the transfer has been concluded between the purchaser and Mr. Buckland, the liquidator. The new proprietor, who is a rich man belonging to another Prefecture, was introduced by a Nagasaki friend closely connected with the Hotel.” Unfortunately, the Nagasaki Press is informed on excellent authority that Mr. Buckland knew nothing of the transaction recorded above until after the Nichi-Nichi had been published. He has not even been approached of late by a potential buyer. If the Nichi-Nichi’s informant will only produce the rich man and carry through the necessary business, says the Nagasaki Press, there is not the slightest reason why such a transaction should not be completed and prove mutually advantageous to the investor and Nagasaki, especially now that brighter days have dawned for the port and the trend of business, particulary in the hotel line, is on the up grade.
Source: The Japan Chronicle. No. 831-861
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