Glover Garden

When Nagasaki opened to foreign trade in 1859 a merchant quarter grew on the hillside above the harbour, and Glover Garden collects nine of those houses - three on their original sites and six moved here from elsewhere in the city as they came under threat. The Glover Residence of 1863, built for the Scottish trader Thomas Glover, is the oldest surviving Western-style building in Japan and a national important cultural property; Glover was involved in bringing industrial machinery and ships into Japan and his house is part of the UNESCO Meiji industrial heritage inscription. The buildings are timber bungalows with deep verandas, a colonial idiom adapted by Japanese carpenters who had not built in it before, and the results have their own hybrid detailing. Escalators climb the slope. The view over the harbour and the Mitsubishi shipyard opposite is the other reason people come.

Highlights

• The 1863 Glover house - the oldest surviving Western-style building in Japan.
• Nine houses - three in place and six relocated here as they came under threat.
• Hybrid carpentry - a colonial veranda idiom built by carpenters new to it.
• The harbour view - over the port and the shipyard opposite.

When to go

All year; evenings in summer when the garden opens late. Two to three hours.

Good to know

The site is on a steep slope - escalators help but there is still climbing. Entry is charged and the route is one-way. Coach parties fill the houses in the middle of the day. Interiors are furnished as displays rather than lived-in rooms.

Nearby

Oura Church is at the foot of the hill; Dejima is north in the city.