Mitsubishi Headquarters Plan in front of Tokyo Station (1917) [Mitsubishi Headquarters Plan Failed Twice]

In this article, I would like to introduce the Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha headquarters plan that was never realized.

This plan was drawn up at the end of 1917, but it was not the first time that Mitsubishi had planned a headquarters. At the end of the Meiji period, a design competition was held for the headquarters building, but the winning proposal was not realized. Instead, a "temporary headquarters" designed by the Land and Building Department was built on the site of the current Mitsubishi Building. This plan for the headquarters was drawn up just before its completion.

The first thing to note is the "Mitsubishi Head Office Total Floor Area Statistical Table" at the beginning. It is a graph showing the changes in the total floor area of Mitsubishi's offices, which shows a rapid increase from around 1914, indicating just how much office space was in demand at the time. The planned total floor area was approximately 13,500 tsubo, which, even when adding the 2,500 tsubo (8,500 tsubo) that had been occupied until then and the 3,100 tsubo (10,200 tsubo) "temporary headquarters" that was under construction, was planned to be more than double the size.

Looking at the blueprint, it is written that "Teishajo-mae-dori" (Daimyo-koji) is to the east and "Yosyoku-mae-dori" (Gyoko-dori) is to the north, so it can be inferred that the site of the current Maru Building was the planned site. The elevation faces the front of Tokyo Station, where the building originally opened, and has the appearance of an imposing American-style high-rise office building. It is not a good architectural plan, even to flatter, but the plan and cross section are very unique, consisting of a six-story main building with a squared-corner plan and an annex in the center of the courtyard surrounded by it. Nevertheless, the appearance and scale of the plan seem to foreshadow the Maru Building that would later be built. Although they have not yet come up with a groundbreaking plan that incorporates a "street-like" feel inside like the Maru Building, I feel that this is one of the prototypes of the Maru Building that would be completed five or six years later.

For reasons unknown, the head office plan did not come to fruition once again. The following year, expansion began immediately on the newly completed "temporary head office," likely due to the tight floor space situation. After this, the site was considered for construction of the modern office building Maru Building as a rental building. I would like to explain the circumstances that led to this on another occasion.