Talk:Imperial Hotel, Tokyo

This article is not about the modern hotel chain

This article covers the historic Frank Lloyd Wright structure built in the 1920's. This hotel was removed decades ago for display as a museum. It is unrelated to the Imperial Hotel chain currently in operation, or any of it's facilities. That chain has it's own article. I am removing all references to the modern chain. --Bridgecross (talk) 16:21, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Okay... this article is about the "middle" hotel, there is an article about the new hotel, so where does one put stuff about the original hotel? --James Chenery (talk) 14:06, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

This article is about the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo

Which has had three major incarnations involving at least 10 separate structures (two of which were designed by Frank Lloyd wright). I have tried to sort out the chronology as best I can. We could, of course, separate it into three articles—one for each major incarnation—but I don't think there is enough material to do this yet. I have not yet been able to find out when the annex to the first Imperial was built, but we know it burnt down in late 1919 (a real date here would be nice too) to be replaced by an Wright-designed annex, which was destroyed in the 1923 earthquake. I have also added citations and gotten rid of the "unscathed by WW2" (untrue). More to come eventually. Don Lammers (talk) 00:30, 29 December 2013 (UTC)

I found dates. Unfortunately, those dates make hash out of the little tale of Wright saving his art collection from fire. Parking it here with the refs in case anyone can untangle it, though maybe it's not even appropriate for this article. "Although Wright and Miriam Noel were living in the annex at that time, Miriam had refused to go to a garden party and was on hand to save some $40,000 worth of Japanese art from Wright's collections by throwing it out the Window to their chauffeur. (Adkins, Jan (2008). Frank Lloyd Wright. Penguin Books.) (Secrest, Meryle (1998). Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography. University of Chicago Press.) I had assumed this went with the annex fire in 1919, but Wright didn't arrive in Japan until just after that fire. There are at least two things wrong with ascribing this to the old hotel burning in 1922. That day was a party with 9,000 guests thrown by the Emperor in honor of the Prince of Wales who was visiting Japan, and even if Wright was not invited, it seems unlikely that the U.S embassy would have a competing party. And, Wright was living in the annex, which didn't burn down, so their possessions would have been safe (though they would not have known this during the fire).Don Lammers (talk) 17:29, 30 December 2013 (UTC)

Groundbreaking for 1970 Hotel

I realize this smacks of original research, and someone will spot the following at some point, so I will go ahead and explain. I only found dates for groundbreaking of the current main building in two places, and they don't agree. The "first 100 Years" book by the hotel says February 28, 1969. However, that would mean they built and furnished a 17-story, three basement level luxury hotel in 11 months (opening was March 10, 1970). In addition, on the facing page is as photo labeled "Early stages of construction in 1968", and it shows a reasonable amount of work up to ground level complete. Again, it seems unlikely that the "groundbreaking" would be done after the main holes are dug and foundations evidently poured. So I went searching and found the article in the Gettysburg Times (Really? Gettysburg is the only place that noticed this?) that puts it on February 28, 1968. This also aligns better with the Meiji-mura report reproduced in the "First 100 years" book that claims all demolition was completed and materials stored by some time in March. I am assuming that the date in the "First 100 years" is a typo. Don Lammers (talk) 21:45, 4 January 2014 (UTC)