生き残った済生館と復興,The Surviving Saiseikan Hospital and Its Reconstruction

The Surviving Saiseikan Hospital and Its Reconstruction

Constructed during the Mishima prefectural government era, this very building, the former Saiseikan Hospital miraculously escaped damage from the two Great Fires. It was located between the areas affected by the two fires that ran north to south through the central city, and thus avoided damage from the fire. It is the only surviving building among those constructed in the early Meiji period under the order of the Mishima prefectural government.
Another building from the Meiji period that escaped the fire is the former main building of the Yamagata Prefectural Teacher’s College. This building was originally constructed in a corner of the government district during the Mishima prefectural area, but in 1901 it was rebuilt and relocated to its current location in Midoricho.

Because it was outside the range of the fire, it has survived even to this day. Strictly speaking, it is not a building from the Mishima prefectural era, but it uses the architectural methods of the early Meiji period when it was built.
Yamagata suffered from many fires during the Meiji period, including the especially destructive Northern and Southern Great Fires. Based on the lessons learned from these fires, buildings with higher fire resistance were constructed during the Taisho and Showa periods. The former prefectural office building, now called Bunshokan, was changed from wooden to brick construction.

In 1927, an elementary school building made of reinforced concrete— the first of its kind in the prefecture—was constructed. That elementary school is now used as the Yamagata Creative City Center Q1.