The Komai Residence (Taku & Shizue Komai Museum)

Highlight

The greenhouse standing in a corner of the garden is used for events and displays panels explaining Dr. Komai’s work

Vories’ architecture in Kita-Shirakawa

A western style house designed by the architect William Merrell Vories for Dr. Taku Komai, a geneticist and professor in the science department of the Kyoto Imperial University, this residence, built in 1927, is now a museum, showing a Spanish facade that was popular in America back then. The two-story timber house features a gabled roof with reddish roof tiles. Downstairs there is a hallway, living room, dining room and six-mat Japanese room, while upstairs has bedrooms and a study. And, while many aspects of the house are geared to practicality, it also maintains an expression that is figuratively and decoratively superb, making it a fine example of eastern and western architectural fusion.
In 2002, the land and residence were donated to the Japan National Trust, in order for the architecture to be enjoyed and the lives of the erstwhile residents Taku and Shizue Komai to be told.