Minato City Local History Museum (港区立郷土歴史館)

Minato City Local History Museum

Central Hall

The Minato City Local History Museum (港区立郷土歴史館) is located in the Shirokanedai area of Minato-ku, Tokyo, near Shirokanedai Station. The E-shaped building was designed by Yoshikazu Uchida (1885–1972), a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. It is a steel and reinforced-concrete structure with a Gothic-style exterior clad in scratch tiles, a design known as "Uchida Gothic."

Construction began in 1938, and the building originally served as the home of the Institute of Public Health (公衆衛生院). Over the years, the institute underwent several organizational changes before eventually becoming the National Institute of Public Health and relocating to Wako, Saitama Prefecture, in 2002. In 2009, Minato-ku purchased the building and its property from the Japanese government and reopened the site as the Minato City Local History Museum in 2018. In 2019, the building was designated an Important Cultural Property by Minato-ku.

Visitors can tour several preserved spaces from the original facility, including the former Library Reading Room (now the Communication Room displaying artifacts related to Minato-ku), the Auditorium, the President's Room, the Vice President's Room, and the Central Hall.

Former Auditorium

Former President's Room

Former Vice President's Room

Admission is required to enter the exhibition area.

Normal operating hours:

• 9:00 AM–5:00 PM (last entry to the exhibition area at 4:30 PM)
• Closed on the third Monday of each month and from December 29 to January 3