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A-bombed exterior wall affixed to east side of Hiroshima Andersen’s new building

by Ayane Yamakawa, Staff Writer

The Hiroshima Andersen building is now being reconstructed on the Hondori shopping arcade in Hiroshima’s Naka Ward. The exterior wall of its old wing, which had survived the atomic bombing, was cut and affixed to the new building October 3. It took nine hours to add the portion of the old wall to the east side of the second floor of the new building, using a crane.

About 50-square-meters of the old wing’s wall was divided into ten large and small pieces beforehand, and reinforced before the work was carried out. The largest portion (about 3.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, weighing 4 tons), was hoisted with a crane and slowly carried to its newly designated position. Five or six workers guided the piece into position, calling out to each other, affixing it carefully.

The new building is a five-story ferroconcrete structure. Its total area will be about 3,400 square meters. A bakery will reside on the first floor, and a restaurant on the second floor. The building will also have space large enough to accommodate wedding ceremonies or class reunions. In the open-air area on the south side, Hygge Park area of the building, a place of recreation and relaxation will be created. That area will open in August of 2020.

At the time of the atomic bombing, the old wing was used as the Hiroshima branch of Teikoku Bank. The Andersen Group used the structure after that, repeatedly going through extension and reconstruction, but they have since decided to rebuild it entirely to make it earthquake resistant. The City of Hiroshima will also register the new building on the City of Hiroshima’s list of A-bombed buildings.

A staff member of the Andersen Institute of Bread & Life Co., Ltd., located in Naka Ward, said, “We want to hand down its historical significance as an A-bombed building to all generations that follow.”

(Originally published on October 4, 2019)

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