Jiyu Gakuen Girls' School

Jiyu Gakuen School Myonichikan is a building in Toshima, Tokyo, designed by the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright for the Jiyu Gakuen school and completed in 1921. Wright, introduced to the school's founders Yoshikazu and Motoko Hani through his collaborator Arata Endo, took the commission after being impressed by the couple's self reliant, Christian oriented educational philosophy. The Prairie School design centers on a double height, window lit hall overlooking a courtyard flanked by symmetrical wings, faced with gray green Oya stone from Tochigi Prefecture. Restored between 1999 and 2001 and reopened to the public that November, it is one of only two Wright buildings in Japan that fully retain their original appearance, and Japan designated it a National Important Cultural Asset in 1997.