(16) Suburban Tokyo: Tokiwadai Housing Estates 常盤台住宅地 (~1935)

Tokiwadai Residential Area 常盤台住宅地 (map) is a suburban development in Itabashi-ku that was motivated by the opening of Musashi-Jobu Station 武蔵常磐駅 in 1935 (now ときわ台駅 Tokiwadai Station) (source). The station, on the Tobu Tojo Line 東武東上線, is just an 11-minute train ride from the hustle and bustle of Ikebukuro Station; because of the neighborhood’s quiet character (and its history), Tokiwadai is referred to as the “Denenchofu of Itabashi” 『板橋の田園調布』 (See: Denenchofu: Japan’s first “garden city”).

See below for a (1) plan of the community, (2) photos of the planned site, from marketing materials, (3) aerial photo from 1945/50 of the site, and (4) the community today:

Plan and advertisement for Tokowadai garden city estates in Tokyo.

Features of the town include:

A tree-lined プロムナード（散歩道） “promenade” that circles the development:

A handful of 「クルドサック」 cul-de-sacs, a street type unusual for Tokyo (map):

Several 「フットパス」 footpaths, which provide pedestrian access between various roads:

「ロードベイ」 “road bay”, a small protected park area (map) designed to provide a set-back for houses from the road and provide ‘shelter’ for pedestrians, similar to how a bay protects boats from an ocean. (The following site uses this term in reference to another area.)

Museum(s):

(I) Tokiwadai is home to the Japan Calligraphy Museum 日本書道美術館 (map)

(II) The Tokiwadai Photo Studio 常盤台写真場 (map), built in 1937, was moved from its original location and is now on display at the Edo-Tokyo Open-Air Architectural Museum:

Tokiwadai photo studio, a 1937 art deco building that was part of Tokiwadai garden city, in Tokyo.

Links:

Japanese Wikipedia: 常盤台 (板橋区) Tokiwadai (Itabashi-ku)
常盤台まちづくり Tokiwadai Town development
常盤台散歩（東武東上線の田園調布） Tokiwadai walk (Tobu Tojo Line’s Denenchofu)
Photos: クルドサック、フットパス、ロードベイ Culdsac, footpath, road bay
Photos: アルバム：ときわ台の街並み Album: Townscape of the city of Tokiwadai (broken link)
常盤台住宅地のまちづくり Town development of Tokiwadai residential area (PDF)
Academic paper: 郊外分譲住宅地の景観形成における住民活動の意義 – 東京都板橋区常盤台住宅地を事例として Significance of civic activities in the process of city planning in the suburban subdeivisioned residential area ~ Case study on Tokiwadai residential area, Itabashi, Tokyo (PDF)
ときわ台景観ガイドライン Tokiwadai Landscape (Keikan) Guidelines (PDF)

Other:

Tokiwadai House, by Hirakura Naoko 平倉直子
Wright and Tange in Tokyo (brief reference)
Genesis (Cat Foreheads & Rabbit Hutches blog, which mentions Tokiwadai: “Another, more down-to-earth housing development is Tokiwadai in Itabashi Ward, which was first developed more than 80 years ago. Both these neighborhoods are in Tokyo proper, and even though they were relatively rural areas at the time they were first built, right now they have high property values simply because of their location and not so much because of the quality of their housing stock.”
Tokiwadai has a 「まちづくり憲章」 “town planning charter” to preserve the character of the town (source)
Background on suburban expansion: Expansion of Metropolis around 1930s 都市から郊外へ : 1930年代の東京
Nearby, south of Tokiwadai Station is the Shakujii-gawa river 石神井川

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