The buildings of Osaka City Electricity Bureau (1)
I haven’t updated the main site yet, but only the blog.
Here is a pop-up card I made the other day.
The model is “Former Kujo Office of Osaka City Electric Bureau" built in 1932.
Osaka City Electricity Bureau was a city-owned electricity supply business.
In 1903, the city of Osaka began operating a municipal streetcar system. From that time, the city thought it would be a good idea to supply electric lights and electricity by utilizing the surplus power generated by the electric railroad business.
In 1923, the city acquired the electric supply business from Osaka Electric Light Co. The Osaka City Electricity Bureau was in charge of this business.
The Osaka City Electricity Bureau began construction of the main building of the bureau in June 1928, and completed it in March 1930. The building is the right one in the photo.
The left building in this photo is the Kujo Electric Light Sales Office, which was established in 1932.
The electric light sales offices were in charge of new contracts for electricity and its construction, maintenance, and inspection. The book published in 1935 “Ten Years of Electric Light Municipal Management" says, there were five electric light sales offices, and several sub-branches were established in each area. (In the case of Kujo Electric Light Office, there were 14 sub-branches.)
I found the photo of the entire Kujo Electric Light Sales Office in the same book.
I made the pop-up card of the first photo in this article while looking at these photos.
There is a tower house in the back, but if I tried to create a sense of distance between the front and the tower with this pop-up card, I would have to make the building much smaller, so I compressed the depth of the building.
However, when I look at the finished pop-up card, I don’t think I was able to create much of the atmosphere of the building. So I decided to make of another side, the longer side of the building.
But the office is connected to the building next door by a corridor, and the number of windows at the back of the building is not clearly visible in the photo. I searched for other photos and found the following photo in the same “Ten Years of Electric Light Municipal Management".
It shows an “electrified farm" on the roof of the building between the Kujo Office and the next building. The Kujo Office is at the back of this photo. But it is hidden by the building, so the first and second floors are not visible. Instead, I found a door attached to the tower house.
Since I saw it, I decided to redo the first card. The windows seemed a little too big, which was another reason for the reworking.
The shape of the door in the tower section is imaginary.
I made a revised version and I think it is better than the last one. Next, I made the card from the side. This is the result.
I looked at the aerial photo and the shape of the building was not rectangular, so I shaved a bit off the roof on the right side.
This 1974 aerial photo also shows the electrified farm between the main building and the Kujo office. I am not sure how long it was used as a farm.
As for the card, I did not want to connect the roof of the tower house part to the background part, so I decided to prepare a separate part to assemble it this time. I folded it several times to show the decorative convex part under the window.
There are three entrances and exits on the first floor, but I couldn’t check the rightmost one, so I am just guessing.
***
During the World War II, Osaka City transferred its electric power business to Kansai Electric Power Distribution, a state-run company, and the Osaka City Electric Bureau became the Osaka City Transportation Bureau in 1945.
Kansai Distribution became Kansai Electric Power Company after the war, and this building was used as the Kujo Office of Kansai Electric Power Company. I have not been able to confirm the official year of demolition, but one post on the Internet says it was in 1989.
Aerial photograph taken in 1997 shows that the building was replaced by another building, so there is no contradiction, but I would like to confirm the year properly if possible.
I felt that there are few articles or photos of the Kujo Office when I searched about it on the Internet. Though I have seen many people posting photos of the former Osaka City Electric Bureau main building (it changed Osaka Municipal Transportation Bureau Building after the war).
The main building was demolished in 2004.
I will make a card of the main building next.
[Reference] (written in Japanese)
“Ten Years of Electric Light Municipal Management" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau edit, 1935)