The buildings of Osaka City Electricity Bureau (2)
This is the second pop-up card related to the former Osaka City Electric Bureau.
This time, I made a pop-up card of former the main building Osaka City Electric Bureau.
The wall facing the street is the front of this card. The main entrance of the building is on the left.
In the photo, only the tower part is a little darker, this is due to the fact that separate parts are glued together, as former Kujo Office of Osaka City Electric Bureau in the previous article.
The part is glued at the top of the tower, turned to the back of the tower, lowered down, and then brought out to the front to make the decorative convex part of the window. It is hard to understand if I write it in words, isn’t it?
Construction of the main building of the Osaka City Electricity Bureau began in June 1928 and was completed in March 1930. It was a six-story reinforced concrete structure, and the construction cost was 1,180,000 yen.
As of 1935, the main building housed “Electric Appliance Municipal Shop" on the first floor, the “Electric Light Department" on the second floor, the “Power Distribution Control Room" on the fourth floor, and the “Electricity Promotion Room" on the fifth floor.
At that time, one of its duties was to promote and advertise the spread of electricity.
Electricity Promotion Hall
The Electricity Promotion Hall on the fifth floor was installed at the same time as the new construction of the government building.
It exhibited lighting and other electrical equipment and construction materials and sold them. A stage lighting room and an electric cooking room were also set up, where cooking classes and meetings related to electricity were held.
The Electricity Bureau also undertook the design of lighting fixtures and neon signs.
Some photos are shown in “Ten Years of Electric Light Municipal Management" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau, 1935).
This photo is a cooking class room.
This is a store lighting room.
Other photos included an exhibition room with examples of lighting in Japanese and Western-style rooms, a factory lighting room, a stage lighting room, a street lighting room, and a lecture room.
Electric Appliance Municipal Shop
In June 1930, about three months after the opening of the Electricity Promotion Hall, a department called the Promotion Section was established in the Sales Division to focus on promotion and advertising activities. In 1931, the extension section set up a “Electric Appliance Municipal Shop" on the first floor of the main building.
Here is a photo of the interior of the store.
The shop was later moved to the first floor of the Municipal Electrical Science Museum when it was opened in 1937, and was further expanded as a “display shop".
I should mention the Electric Science Museum as a major promotional activity, but that is a topic for another building, so I will write about it later.
In addition to the promotional activities, the Electricity Bureau also began operating a service car at the end of 1937. In addition to the business of a branch office, they also displayed electrical appliances. As of 1937, two service cars were in operation, patrolling more than 100 parking lots in the city.
Later, one more car was added, but from September 1941, the number of cars was reduced due to gasoline consumption regulations, and by 1942, only one car was in operation.
***
As written in the previous issue, Osaka City transferred its electric power business to Kansai Electric Power Distribution during the World War II.
After the war, in September 1945, the name was changed to Osaka City Transportation Bureau, and the main building of Osaka City Electric Bureau was used as the Osaka City Transportation Bureau’s government building.
In 2004, the Transportation Bureau moved to a newly built government building on an adjacent site. The old government building was demolished. The site of the old building is now occupied by the Osaka City Fire Department.
In 2018, Osaka City transferred the operation of the municipal subway business to Osaka Metro Co., Ltd and the bus business to Osaka City Bus Corporation. So the Osaka City Transportation Bureau has been privatized.
[Reference] (written in Japanese)
“Ten Years of Electric Light Municipal Management" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau edit, 1935)
“The Outline of Osaka City Electricity Bureau" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau, 1937)
“The History of Electricity Supply Business in Osaka City" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau, 1942)