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
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