Imperial Hotel, Tokyo 1916. Watanabe's Imperial Hotel building was destroyed by fire on 16 April 1922, while Edward, Prince of Wales was visiting Japan. The fire broke out during the day, with a full staff on hand and most of the guests out at an Imperial garden party. No lives were lost, but business at the hotel stopped until the South wing of the new hotel could be opened. The second Imperial Hotel was built from 1919–1923, and officially opened on 1 September 1923. This hotel was the best-known of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Japan. It was designed roughly in the shape
Hotel Astoria (Saint Petersburg) which owned the land. It was designed by Russo-Swedish architect Fyodor Lidval, who developed a style based on Art Nouveau and also influenced by neoclassicism. The hotel was constructed by the German firm of Wais and Freitag. It was built to host tourists visiting Russia for the Romanov tercentenary, a huge celebration of 300 years of Russian imperial rule in May 1913. Hotel Astoria opened on December 23, 1912. The luxurious hotel was used during the celebrations to house guests of the imperial family, and was afterwards popular with the aristocracy. Rasputin was said to stay there with some of