Rebuilding of Imperial Hotel
 

Imperial Hotel (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, across from Hibiya Park) announced the complete renovation of the hotel starting 2024. Imperial Hotel opened it's door on 1890 and the current Main Building reaching 50 years old and the Tower Building reaching 38 years old. Imperial Hotel will spend 200 - 250 billion yen to build the totally new building. The Tower Building will close on 2024 and the new Tower building will open on 2030, the Main Building will continue to open during the rebuilding of the Tower Building. Then the Main Building will close on 2031 and the new Main Building will open on 2036. The communication released from Imperial Hotel used the term 「建て替え」which suggest that this is not just refurbishment of interior, but will be total rebuilding of the Main Building and the Tower Building.

I think many legacy hotels in Tokyo need to do something like this to keep competitive.

I hope they transfer the Old Imperial Bar over to the new place along with the Grolsch set! One of my favorite club sandwiches in the world, might have a lot to do with the atmosphere of the Frank Lloyd Wright bar, though.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...f3f73240c.jpeg
Grolsch set.

Unlike the Okura, which was close to (but not quite) to the level of the FLW Imperial Hotel in its architectural importance, the current 1970s building could have been knocked down the day it opened and nobody would have missed it. Better late than never. I'm sure the new building will have the Old Imperial Bar, the same way the new Okura faithfully recreated the original lobby (I was pleasantly surprised about that one).

Love the spin in this article , especially the headline :

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...hotel-rebuild/

About time!

I hope they retain all of the FLW influences that are scattered around the hotel, not just the bar.

During the transition, they'll not only have fewer rooms, but also fewer restaurants. Also, the pool is in the tower building, so when it closes, not only will the retail and F&B space be lost, but also there won't be a pool. IIRC the health club is next to the pool, but it would be easier to make a temporary gym on one of the lower floors of the main building.

You can bet that the new hotel will make a big deal of the Frank Lloyd Wright history. But apart from the bar, what are the “FLW influences” scattered around the current hotel?

Here are some random ones that I can immediately remember:
Some of the furniture, for example the heavy chairs they bring out when there's a line at the front desk. They're similar to the furniture in the bar.
The off-center entrances to some of the restaurants and function rooms.
General built-in furniture and lighting fixtures on the walls.
Floor to ceiling windows, for example on the left side as you enter the main building (IIRC looking out onto a small rock garden). Once there was a history of the Imperial Hotel display here (inside).

Just saw this beautiful digital reconstruction video from the Frank Lloyd Wright trust of the Imperial Hotel. While I've enjoyed several stays at the current Imperial, would have loved to stay there in the FLW version!

One can hope that the new hotel will take some exterior cues from the original shown here:

As mentioned at the very end of the video, the main entrance and lobby of the original FLLW Imperial Hotel was moved and reconstructed at Meiji-Mura (near Nagoya). Fantastic!

https://www.meijimura.com/english/

The Tower Building of the Imperial Hotel has closed on July 1 for the construction of the new Tower Building. Currently the new Tower Building is scheduled to open in 2030.

The Main Building of the Imperial Hotel will continue to operate and will close in 2030, after the completion of the new Tower Building, and the new Main Building of the Imperial Hotel is scheduled to be completed in first half of 2036. The architectural firm Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects will design the new Main Building of the Imperial Hotel.

Picture of the new Main Building of the Imperial Hotel (from Atelier Tsuyoshi Tane Architects website)

Im confused because you can still book rooms in the Tower Building as of this month. Did they delay the plans for closing it? Does anyone have the latest news on the new building?