The buildings of Osaka City Electricity Bureau (3-Part 2)
The pop-up card for the former Osaka Municipal Electric Science Museum is now available.
As mentioned in the previous issue, the Electric Science Museum was conceived in 1932 and construction began in 1934. The museum opened in 1937.
The year 1933 was the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Osaka City Electricity Bureau, and the museum was one of the commemorative projects.
It was designed by Taneo Shinmyo of the Osaka City Accounting Department’s Repair Division.
For comparison, I re-posted the image I posted last time. Although not visible in this photo, a planetarium was installed on the 6th to 8th floor, and the bulge of its dome appeared on the roof.
Reference 1975 aerial photo from the GSI website.
The dome on this pop-up card is a bit bumpy to be called a dome…
Early plans for the construction of the Electric Science Museum called for a showroom for the use of electricity, with a beauty salon, a public bathhouse, a large cafeteria, and a skating rink. Later, it was decided to install an exhibition on the principles and applications of electricity and a planetarium.
The facilities at the time of opening were as follows. (From “Outline of Osaka City Electricity Bureau" 1937)
Basement: public cafeteria, electric machine room, etc.
1st floor: the show room and shop. (The shop was relocated from the first floor of the Osaka City Electricity Bureau’s main office building, which was established in 1930.)
The second floor: Electricity Hall (weak electricity and radio hall) and office
3rd floor: Electricity Hall (electricity and electric heat hall)
4th floor: Electricity Hall (lighting hall)
5th floor: Electricity Hall (electric principle hall), library, and laboratories
6th floor: Astronomy Pavilion (Planetarium)
7th floor: Rest rooms for visitors
8th floor: the office
Tower 9th floor : Rooftop promenade
Tower 10th~15th: Air defence tower
Tower tops: Jingu Yohaisho (place to bow in the direction of the Ise-jingu Shrine)
The presence of the Jingu Yohaisho in spite of the name of “Science Museum" reflects the situation at that time.
The same book also listed the days the museum is closed and its hours of operation.
Closed: The first and third Monday of each month, and year-end and New Year holidays (December 29-January 3)
Hours of operation:
-Electricity Hall, Planetarium (fee-charging zone) 9:00-17:00
-Exhibition Hall (Free Zone) 9:00-19:00
Admission fee:
-Electricity Hall: 20 sen (13 years old and older), 10 sen (under 13 years old)
-Planetarium 40 sen (13 years old and up), 20 sen (under 13 years old)
-Common ticket 50 sen (over 13 years old), 25 sen (under 13 years old)
In addition, coupon tickets for ten tickets were also available.
The “History of Electric Supply Business of Osaka City" (1942) states that the number of visitors was about 170,000 in 1937, when the museum first opened, and increased to 320,000 in 1941.
During an air raid on Osaka in March 1945, the Electric Science Museum was partially destroyed by fire. Although the planetarium was safe, it could not open for business due to the acceptance of evacuated residents, and the war ended as it did.
The planetarium reopened in February 1946. After society stabilized, the planetarium became a spot visited not only by the general public but also by school groups and students on school excursions.
The year 1989 was the 100th anniversary of the Osaka municipal government, and to commemorate the occasion, Kansai Electric Power Co. decided to build a science museum and donate it to the city of Osaka. That is the present “Osaka Science & Technology Center". In 1989, the Electric Science Museum was closed accordingly.
After its closure, the Osaka City Central Library was temporarily housed next.
The Central Library was temporarily operating in the building of the former Electric Science Museum from September 1992 to February 1996 due to the reconstruction of the library. The dome part of the planetarium was used as a stack-room.
After the library’s use, the former Electric Science Museum was demolished in 1998.
[Reference]
“Outline of Osaka City Electricity Bureau" (Osaka City Electricity Bureau, 1937)
“History of the Osaka Science Museum: About the Electric Science Museum" at the Osaka Science Museum website