Hamadera Park Old Station Building is a wooden station building with a half-timbered style design, built in 1907 (Meiji 40). Hamadera Park was created in 1873 (Meiji 6) on the Hamadera coast, which has long been known as a land of white sand and green pines. Afterwards, in 1897 (Meiji 30), Hamadera Park Station (then called Hamadera Station), the nearest station to the park, was constructed.

The design was done by “Tatsuno Kataoka Office,” established by architects Kingo Tatsuno and Yasushi Kataoka, who also designed Osaka City Central Public Hall and Tokyo Station. It is known as one of Sakai’s proud architectural works.

Half-timbered style is a type of wooden architecture style. The pillars, beams, and diagonal braces are exposed, and walls are made by filling the spaces between with stone, earthen walls, or bricks. It was often used in England around 1450 to 1650 and is also called “half wood frame construction.” The pillars, beams, and diagonal braces also serve a decorative purpose.

The exterior has the half-timbered style design, with pillars and beams designed geometrically. Its beauty and value as modern Japanese architecture have been highly evaluated, and it has been designated as a nationally registered tangible cultural property.

As the gateway to Hamadera Park, the beach, and the resort, as well as the entrance to the upscale residential area, it has watched over the changes in the Hamadera area and accumulated history. Due to the Nankai Main Line’s continuous grade separation project, it was relocated to a position that would not interfere with the construction. Currently, it is being utilized experimentally as a place to promote the history and culture of the area and as a venue for citizens to interact.

Hamadera Park Station and the neighboring Suwanomori Station were built in 1907 (Meiji 40) and 1919 (Taisho 8), respectively, and were designated nationally registered tangible cultural properties in 1998 (Heisei 10). However, the ground-level railway tracks became an obstacle to road traffic, so a continuous grade separation project was implemented. To build new station buildings compatible with the elevated tracks, preservation and utilization of both station buildings became a challenge.

In this context, in 2006 (Heisei 18), a citizen workshop and study sessions were held to consider how to preserve and utilize the station buildings. In 2007 (Heisei 19), through discussions among experts, Nankai Electric Railway, and citizens, proposals for the preservation of the station buildings were formulated and suggested to Sakai City.

Following this process, since 2018 (Heisei 30), Hamadera Park Old Station Building has been utilized as an interaction space such as a gallery, café-library, and event hall. The old station building has two wings — north and south — connected by a central corridor. The south wing is used as a gallery for exhibitions on a weekly basis.

The north wing serves as a café-library space, mainly operated by local volunteers. The library contains various books, and in addition to the collection, new books are borrowed monthly from the Sakai City West Library and rotated regularly.

This time, we introduced Hamadera Park Station Old Station Building. Because a café and library have been set up, various ways to enjoy it exist, making it a beloved famous architecture among the local people even today. There are also outing spots nearby such as Hamadera Park, so why not drop by?