常設展示「旧岡方倶楽部（小物屋会館）」

神戸市歴史公文書館の別館3階、展示室3では「旧岡方倶楽部」を振り返る常設展示を公開しています。

旧岡方俱楽部（小物屋会館）
Former Okagata Club (Komono-ya Kaikan)

岡方惣会所の由緒
Story Behind Okagata Assembly House

Hyogo-no-tsu, which had been an important trading port since ancient times, had three assembly houses in the Edo period where town administration was conducted: one in Okagata (inland area), and one each in Kitahama and Minamihama (coastal areas). The assembly house for Okagata was located in Komonoya-cho, and pictorial records related to its construction still remain. There is a stone monument on the archive's grounds commemorating the site of Okagata Assembly House. This monument, erected in 1984, conveys the history and significance of Okagata to this day.

岡方倶楽部の建設
Construction of the Okagata Club

The former Okagata Club, a three-story reinforced concrete building with a parapet and flat roof, is a Western-style structure built on the site of the former Okagata Assembly House. Its front facade varies in appearance by floor: the first floor employs a masonry-style finish using granite from Kitagi Island, while the second floor and above feature a tile-clad appearance. The building was designed by Takamatsu Kichisaburo and commissioned by the Chairman of the Hyogo Okagata Landowners' Association. An application for construction was submitted in 1925, and it was completed in 1927 as a meeting house. The interior follows a central corridor layout with regularly spaced columns, incorporating a hall, staircase, individual rooms, and restrooms. A porch extends from the front, while a kitchen area juts out from the north side.

岡方倶楽部の落成式
Okagata Club Inauguration Ceremony

A ceremony marking the inauguration of the Okagata Club was held on June 15, 1927. Many guests attended, including the chief of police, the mayor of Kobe City, and representatives from newspapers, related towns, and the Landowners' Association. At the ceremony, guests were served sake and coffee. An advisory committee met to discuss the use of each room. The third floor was used as a large hall, while most of the first and second floors were leased monthly as offices.

兵庫区南部地域の戦後
Southern Hyogo Ward After WWII

The southern Hyogo region suffered extensive damage in an air raid on March 17, 1945. Many surrounding wooden buildings burned down, but the Okagata Club building remained standing. Following its completion, this building served as a town office, an army facility, and after World War II, as the office for a food processing and management corporation. The area along the nearby Shinkawa Canal was destroyed in the air raid and seized by the occupation forces after the war, making it off-limits to citizens. Postwar reconstruction efforts led to improvements in street infrastructure and the construction of public housing, which resulted in many residents moving out of the old city center. Additionally, this period also saw the emergence of a trend where the Zaisanku (property wards) voluntarily transferred their assets to the city.

岡方会館の建設
Construction of the Okagata Hall

In 1953, Minatomachi and the other 15 districts planned to construct a three-story reinforced concrete building in Komonoya-cho using their common assets. This was the Okagata Hall. Completed in 1957, the first and second floors were used by the Prefectural Tuberculosis Prevention Association, while the third floor served as a community hall for residents. It was built with the intent to create “something lasting for future generations” using common assets leftover from the war. In 1958, the following year, the land within this property ward along with buildings such as the Okagata Club and Okagata Hall were transferred to Kobe City free of charge.

地域活性化と幻の“神戸歴史資料館”
Regional Revitalization and the “Kobe Historical Museum” That Never Was

Efforts to revitalize the southern Hyogo region and develop community hubs here were initiated based on a plan formulated in 1989 to address inner city issues. A survey of historical resources was conducted in fiscal year 1990, and in 1991, a plan was unveiled to utilize the former Gadelius headquarters building as a local history museum. In 1993, a plan for revitalizing the western region was formulated under which efforts to promote tourism intensified. This included developing the Hyogo-no-tsu Road and Canal Promenade and training guides from among the local community. That same year, discussions on the historical museum moved forward, and an exhibition design competition was held. However, the plan for the museum was put on hold due to the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995.

阪神・淡路大震災の発生
Southern Hyogo Ward After the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake in 1995 caused relatively minor damage to the southern Hyogo region, and the Okagata Club building likewise remained largely unscathed. This building, which served as a rental office building and community hall after World War II, was registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property in 2018. After undergoing conservation and restoration, it opened as the Annex of the Kobe City Archives in June 2026.

岡方倶楽部の外観意匠
Exterior Design of the Okagata Club

外壁と上階の意匠
Design of the Exterior Wall and Upper Floor

• The first floor facade employs a masonry-style finish, while the second and third floors feature a reddish-hued exposed aggregate finish with vertically elongated windows.
•  Semicircular arched recesses and olive-pattern medallions are visible above the central windows on the third floor.
• The second- and third-floor window bays are adorned with stamp-like decorations, while the upper wall surfaces are crowned by a cornice featuring a series of inverted triangular motifs.

エントランス
Entrance

• The floor on the first floor uses stone believed to be granite from Kitagi Island, with different finishes around the entrance and for the plinths.
• The entrance consists of a semicircular arched recess, featuring a tile-like finish on the front and a mortar finish on the sides and rear.
•  Inside, the floor incorporates mosaic tiles, the wainscoting uses marble, and the walls and ceiling are finished with plaster.
• The entrance hall retains the original wooden door, but an additional stainless steel-framed glass door has been installed on the exterior for improved airtightness and security.

旧岡方俱楽部の見どころ
Highlights of the Former Okagata Club

建築内部の意匠
Design of the Building's Interior

Renovation work on the former Okagata Club focused on preserving the original design elements and materials that have remained since the building’s construction. Let’s step inside and look around this modern architecture.

1階　1st Floor

• The walls and ceiling of the annex's first floor are plastered, while the wainscoting and baseboards are finished with mortar. The wainscoting is camel-colored, with a green band running along the upper section.
• Prior to renovation, the walls and ceiling had noticeable stains, the wooden brick of the fitting frames showed signs of carbonization, and the floor had a mortar finish with multiple layers of repairs.
• The newel posts on the staircase are reinforced concrete, fitted with smooth, curved handrails.

2階　2nd Floor

• The second-floor landing has a large, Art Deco-style decorative window formed by geometric straight lines.
•  The balustrade wall along the second-floor corridor features a series of diamond-shaped openings.
•  Exhibition Rooms 1 and 2 feature inverted staircase-like decorations on the beam haunches and dentil-like ornamentation around the ceiling perimeter.
• The flooring is hardwood, and the wainscoting and baseboards are finished with varnish, creating a contrast with the plaster walls and ceilings.

3階　3rd Floor

• Exhibition Room 3 on the third floor is accessed via the staircase at the southern end of the second floor. The entrance transom features Art Deco-style decoration with a vertically elongated oval divided by a cross.
• The columns surrounding the entrance are adorned with capitals featuring acanthus leaves and six-petaled flowers. The projecting corners of the columns and beams are shaped like ginkgo leaves, while the underside of the beams is designed with a central indentation.
• The ceiling perimeter features a corded molding, with dentil-style decoration applied to its inner edge.
•  The ceiling medallion for the suspended lighting has a stepped square border and a central circular decorative element.