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 Imperial “Hitler is gone. The Nazis are no more. But we are still here, singing and dancing.” Today, the Hotel Imperial is, perhaps, Vienna's most exclusive five-star hotel. Guests of state typically stay at the hotel, such as the Emperor and Empress of Japan on their visit in 2002. Marjana Gaponenko's novel "Who is Martha?" (New Vessel Press, 2014) is set in the Hotel Imperial. Its protagonist, a 96-year-old ornithologist, checks into the Elisabeth Suite, where he lives his last days in luxury, befriending hotel staff and guests. A speciality of the hotel is the Imperial cake, known as the Imperial