Imperial Hotel, Tokyo least 10 structures that have been part of the Imperial Hotel, including two designed by Frank Lloyd Wright: The original Imperial Hotel opened in November 1890 on the Northeast corner of what is now the hotel property. The hotel faced roughly North, with parts of the Imperial Palace moats (no longer extant) across streets on the North and East sides of the building. The hotel was backed by key Japanese leaders, such as Foreign Minister Count Inoue Kaoru and Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi. Shibusawa and Okura Kihachiro submitted an application to form the Tokyo Hotel Co. on November 28, 1887, in
Imperial Hotel, Tokyo architectural historians have noted a marked similarity with the Cafe Australia in Melbourne, Australia (1916), designed by Prairie School architects Marion Mahony and Walter Burley Griffin. The architecture heavily influenced the style of the Kōshien Hotel, which was constructed by Wright's apprentice Arata Endo. The structure famously survived the Great Kantō earthquake on September 1, 1923 (7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale (M)). A telegram from Baron Kihachiro Okura reported the following: "Hotel stands undamaged as a monument of your genius hundreds of homeless provided by perfectly maintained service congratulations[.] Congratulations[.]" Wright passed the telegram to journalists, helping to perpetuate