Pop-up card : Former Telephone Branch of Beppu Post Office
This is an improved version of a card made 13 years ago.
It is a pop-up card of Former Telephone Branch of Beppu Post Office.
I will also include a photo of the previous card maid in 2011 for comparison.
In the previous card, the size of the building did not seem realistic, so I first made the windows more detailed.
Then, I made the entrance and balcony together before, but made the balcony come forward than the entrance.
I made the part shown on the left of the photo, and glued it to the top of the front door.
I thought this would be good, but when I checked the opening and closing of the card, a problem occurred.
The window frame is so thin that it bends at the red line. This would cause the window to move in such a way that it would catch when opened and closed, and I didn’t like that.
I decided not to publish the pattern when I used another part, so I glued the reinforcement parts as well. Since the window part is reinforced from the back, I used colored construction paper to show the shape of the window.
As this photo, colored construction paper was pasted on the window area to reinforce it.
After the photo was taken, the two rows in the front were also pasted.
Although this is the finished photo, I realized another mistake after I made it.
Behind the front door and the window above it, the colored paper for the card cover can be seen, but it looks dark because it is in shadow. So only the color of the window looks brighter. I should have chosen a darker color for the reinforcement paper.
But it was too much trouble to redo that part, so I finished it.
In fact, the reason I reworked the card this time was not only to correct the shape.
I also learned that the name of the building is different.
The name of this building as a registered tangible cultural property is “Beppu Children’s Center (former the Telephone Branch of Beppu Post and Telephone Office).
When I made a card in 2011, I referred to the name of the cultural property, so I used the old name as the title of the card.
However, I saw a suggestion on a website that the name was probably a mistake.
–> “Fukupedia”, “Southern Beppu City Children’s Center” (2017-10-14) (* written in Japanese)
I was curious, so I checked it myself and searched on the digital collection of the National Diet Library.
When I did so, I found only the 1973 “Beppu City History” and the 1998 “Japan National Trust Bulletin” that refer to the “Beppu Post and Telephone Office”.
Since the latter is about a registered tangible cultural property, the Beppu City History is the only source available prior to that date.
“On February 1, 1893, the Beppu Post Office in Kitamachi, Beppu Village became the Beppu Post and Telephone Office and began telegraph operations. (omitted)
On November 20, 1928, a new telephone annex building was built in Minami-cho, and a telephone section was established."
(From “Beppu City History” 1973)
Next, I checked the 1933 “Beppu City History” and found that a “telephone annex” of the “Beppu Post Office" had been established.
A search of the Beppu Post Office led to a history of the Beppu Telegraph and Telephone Office in the “A Centennial History of Telegraph and Telephone in Kyushu” (1971).
According to it,
“February 1, 1893: Beppu Post and Telegraph Office begins telegraph operations.
April 1, 1903: Name changed to Beppu Post Office.
(omitted)
December 20, 1928: Newly built a telephone branch office building (2266-1 Minami-cho)”.
The name in 1893 was not “Beppu Post Telephone Office” but “Beppu Post Telegraph Office”.
Since the name was later changed to Beppu Post Office, the name of this pop-up card building when it was built should have been the “Telephone Station of Beppu Post Office".
When I searched for “Beppu Post and Telegraph Office” as a test, I found more than 20 examples used in books and official gazettes from the 1900s (Meiji 33 to 42), so it seems that this name is correct.
I think the “Beppu Post and Telephone Office” in the 1973 Beppu City History is an error, but perhaps this book was referred to when registering the building as a cultural property.
In this case, I decided to correct the name and the form at the same time, since it seems that the name registered as a cultural property was not accurate.
The name of the cultural property, “Beppu City Children’s Center,” seems to have been moved in 2021, so it also does not match the actual situation. Well, the Children’s Center was actually there when it was registered, but the “Post and Telephone Office” did not exist, so I think it would be better to correct it.
[Reference] (written in Japanese)
“Beppu City History" (Beppu City Board of Education / 1933)
“Beppu City History" (Beppu City / 1973)
“A Centennial History of Telegraph and Telephone in Kyushu” (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation Kyushu Telecommunications Bureau/Kyushu Branch of the Telecommunications Mutual Aid Association/1971)