Former Toki House

Former Toki House

This two-story villa in the style of German Jugendstil was built in 1924 in Shibuya, Tokyo, by viscount Toki Akira （1892–1979）. His father, Toki Yorioki （1848–1911）, was the last daimyo lord of the Numata domain.
 
Toki Akira was born in Tokyo, where his family had moved following the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He had a passion for bread and studied zymology, the science of fermentation, at university. After he married, he worked in the wine business with his wife’s family. While pursuing further studies in Germany in 1923, his Tokyo home was destroyed in the Great Kanto Earthquake, a disaster that devastated much of the capital and killed more than 100,000 people.
 
After returning to Tokyo, Akira decided to construct a new residence in Shibuya. He had the exterior designed in the decorative Jugendstil which was prominent in Germany in the early twentieth century. Jugendstil is notable for forms and lines inspired by natural curves, particularly those of flowers and plants. In the Toki House, the influence of this style is evident in details such as the reliefs of fruit baskets above the arched windows and the gently curved dormers high on the roof.
 
The interior is a combination of Western and Japanese styles. The spacious reception room on the first floor and Toki Akira’s study on the second floor have wooden floors, chairs, and ornate curtains. In contrast, other rooms, including the viscount’s private quarters, have tatami-mat floors, tokonoma alcoves, and sliding paper panels. Decorative glass windows on some of the sliding doors provide an eclectic touch.
 
The Toki family donated the house to the city of Numata in 1991, and it was relocated to Numata Park in the same year. The building has stood on its current site since 2020.

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