Chōchōkaku, Historic house in Beppu, Japan.
Chōchōkaku is a two-storey wooden house completed in 1929, with an irimoya-zukuri roof and a modern Japanese style. Its main building uses high-grade timber such as Taiwanese cypress, and a separate Western-style wing has an Art Deco reception room with stained glass by Sanchi Ogawa.
The house was built in 1929 and represents residential architecture from early 20th-century Japan. It later received official recognition as a registered cultural property, preserving it as an important historical record.
The house reveals how prosperous families in Beppu organized their daily lives and used their spaces in the early 1900s. The layout and decoration show the social customs of that period.
Chōchōkaku stands in the Aoyama-machi district of Beppu, about 14 minutes on foot from Beppu Station on the JR Kyushu Nippō Line. It opened to the public in 2001 as the Chōchōkaku Takahashi Memorial Hall and since 2013 has displayed works by the painter Satō Kei as the Satō Kei Museum.
The house shows through its architectural features how Japanese design was changing during the 1920s. Traditional building techniques mixed with new construction elements, reflecting a time of transition.
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