Weathercock House

Facility introduction

It was designed by a talented German architect, G.de Lalande who was active from the late 30’s of the Meiji era to the early Taisho era. This house was done full-scale preservation repair from December 1983 to March 1985 and restored to the original as much as possible.

This house was originally built as a residence of G・Thomas, a German trader who used to live in Kobe.

This is the only exist building in the Kitano/Yamamoto area whose exterior wall is made of brick.

It has colorful brick color, the cobblestone entrance porch, the half-timbered structure on the second floor and so on which produces different atmosphere from the other Ijin-kan.

Weathercock which is located at the top, is now well-known and essential as a symbol of Kitano.

Weathercock ,as its name suggests, plays a role to show direction. In addition, especially because roosters are very cautious, it has been said that they have the meaning of amulet and the effect of developing Christianity.

The former Thomas House has an entrance hall, drawing room, living room, and dining room on the first floor, and the master bedroom, children’s room, guest bedroom, and breakfast room on the second floor.

Although the design of each room is changed, as a whole, traditional German style is introduced to make you feel the new art movement ,as it is called Art nouveau, from the end of nineteen century to the beginning of the twenty century.

The tendency can be seen in the handle decorations on each entrance door of the first floor, the chandelier in the drawing room, the caricature on wainscot of the study and so on.

In addition, the dining room has a spectacular design such as medieval castle-style ceiling joist, decorative cabinet, and fireplace decorations.

Facility details