Iron posts standing on the Uchibori-dori sidewalk. What are they?
About five meters tall. No wires run to them, so they are not telegraph poles. The place is in front of Palaceside Building’s east entrance.
Not much of a reveal, but they are the posts that support the taxi-stand canopy
.
Photos at right, above and at right, below compare when the canopy was there and now. Something that was always there is gone — a drafty, unsettled feeling.
This spring we began a full
renovation of the canopy installed in 1969 and took the roof off; after nearly 50 years of weather the structure was more damaged than expected, so we reworked the plan. After Obon, full work resumes next week, with completion scheduled for the end of September.
Before this canopy, when the building opened, there was a fine porte-cochère here. Palaceside Building 50-Year History (published October 2017) tells it in detail; the photo at left, above is the scene at opening in October 1966. The canopy was a huge 12 meters square. The cars look classical too.
Then, because of a plan to widen Uchibori-dori, part of the building’s site was given up; the front became a metropolitan road at once, a sidewalk was laid, and the canopy was installed over the walk with metropolitan permission.
The scene at the end of 1969, when it was finished, is the photo at left, below. Look closely. Two spherical roofs sit side by side (6.4 meters wide each), and those roofs rise in a triangle. Yes — they were electrically
made to open halfway. Honestly, why the opening function was given is now a mystery. When the canopy was opened, and until when, is also unclear. Of course it has not been
opened for a long time, and this renovation will not restore that function.
Work will in principle be at night (10:00 p.m.–6:00 a.m.) so as not to inconvenience people in the building or on the sidewalk; if weather delays the schedule, daytime work on Sundays and the like may occur. In any case half the entrance will be closed and we will trouble you; please understand.