![\"embassy01\"](\"https:\/\/benbansal.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/embassy01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nSeptember 1953 \u2013 Perry Apartments, left, with Harris Apartments on the right<\/a>\u00a0(Antonin Raymond), photograph from\u00a0Gerald & Rella Warner Japan Slide Collection<\/a>, reproduced with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n This comment here<\/a> is from John Hudson, who lived in Tokyo in the 1970s. John replied to my post<\/a> on the US embassy’s housing.<\/p>\n Wonderful pictures. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed living in Perry House from 1973-76. I wrote Antonin Raymond to express our pleasure. His delightful reply concluded with an invitation to visit him and his wife in New Hope PA and this: \u201cSince we\u2019re 86 and 87,\u2026 you better hurry up.\u201d Sadly, we never made it.<\/p>\n Tuttle published his excellent eponymous autobiography in 1973. As you note, his influence on post-war Japanese architecture was substantial.<\/p>\n The Embassy Admin Section had (and I hope still has) an extensive and wince-inducing collection of 8\u00d710 photos, which documented the buildings. The lobbies, for example, were originally fitted with large and splendid rugs, furnishings, lamps, and drapes \u2013 Okura Hotel lobbies in miniature.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I will certainly try and find those photos in the US embassy’s admin section when I’m in Tokyo next.<\/p>\n Brian Dole also lived<\/a> in Harris House:<\/p>\n Thank you for these pictures. We lived in Harris house, 1st and 2nd floor, far right looking from the front from 1958-1963.\u00a0On a good day we could see Mt Fuji from the roof.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n On my Hotel Okura post<\/a>, I received the following comment<\/a> by Sue:<\/p>\n I have stayed at the Okura, first in 1973, and last in 2005 (I think). Superior in every sense of the word. It is truly sad to lose it, but impossible to save, I suppose. The word \u201cprogress\u201d should always be followed by an asterisk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A great comment and link to his own blog<\/a> came from Andrew Gray to my Tokyo Tower post<\/a>:<\/p>\n Fascinating blog. I have done similar now & then comparisons from the Hotel Okura, which include a corresponding view of the Tokyo Tower (link)<\/a>.\u00a0Keep it up!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Andrew has since also posted a great “before and after” post about the Tokyo Prince Hotel<\/a>, which his grandfather visited in the sixties.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From time to time, I receive some comments on the by now more than 200 blog posts on this site. As I have been doing quite a lot of “before and after” photo sets, quite a few people have been … Continue reading