It was created in the late 1880s at the request of the Japanese aristocracy to cater to the increasing number of Western visitors to Japan.

[4] The hotel was backed by key Japanese leaders, such as Foreign Minister Count Inoue Kaoru and Viscount Shibusawa Eiichi.

After a week of preparations, the House of Peers reconvened in the ballroom of the Imperial Hotel, where they met until 1 March.

Even after the U.S. annexed the Philippines in 1902, after the Spanish–American and Philippine–American Wars, bringing more travelers through Japan, the hotel only averaged 40 guests and 50 restaurant customers.

[8][9][10][11] Watanabe's Imperial Hotel building was destroyed by fire on 16 April 1922, while Edward, Prince of Wales was visiting Japan.

[1] In 1911, Frank Lloyd Wright was recommended to Aisaku Hayashi of the Imperial Hotel by Frederick W. Gookin, a fellow collector of Japanese art.

In early 1916, Hayashi, his wife, and Japanese architect Tori Yoshitake traveled to the United States, arriving at Taliesin in February.

Initial working drawings were all done at Taliesin, and Wright did not return to Japan until 17 November 1918 to supervise the start of construction.

[15] The north wing of the new hotel and a partially completed center section opened on 2 July 1922, in time to host the reunion of the United States Naval Academy class of 1881.

The architecture heavily influenced the style of the Kōshien Hotel, which was constructed by Wright's apprentice Arata Endo.

The structure famously survived the Great Kantō earthquake on 1 September 1923 (7.9 on the Moment magnitude scale (Mw)).

A telegram from Baron Kihachiro Okura reported the following:Hotel stands undamaged as a monument of your genius hundreds of homeless provided by perfectly maintained service congratulations[.]

][17]Wright passed the telegram to journalists, helping to perpetuate a legend that the hotel was unaffected by the earthquake.

In reality, the building had been damaged; the central section slumped, several floors bulged,[17] four pieces of stonework fell to the ground,[18] fans fell from the balcony, and electric ranges in the kitchen were toppled, starting a kitchen fire that was fairly quickly extinguished.

By 1936, Japan was preparing for the 1940 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and there was serious talk of replacing Wright's Imperial Hotel with a building more suited to the needs of the time.

World War II intervened to cancel the Olympics and save the hotel from the wrecking ball.

[23] During World War II, the South wing of the hotel was gutted by incendiary bombs on 25 May 1945, and the Peacock room was destroyed.

The hotel was commandeered for a period by the Allied occupation forces and managed by the U.S. government, under the supervision of Lieutenant J. Malcolm Morris, from 1945 to 1952, and some of the damage was repaired during this time.

[24][25][26] As part of the land reform instituted by the occupying forces under General Douglas MacArthur, Okura Kishichiro and all of his family had to give up their shares in the Imperial Hotel.

Once the war damage had been repaired, a new annex was constructed directly behind the North wing of Wright's building, opening on 1 December 1954 and adding 200 guest rooms to the hotel.

On 15 January 1956, a salesman for the hotel's jewelry shop was robbed by American professional wrestler John MacFarland and a Japanese accomplice.

Police quickly realized that MacFarland, a recognizable 193-centimetre (76 in) tall Caucasian man with red hair, was the perpetrator.

Reasons given for the demolition include the damage to the banquet section and South wing during World War II, uneven settling of the building on its floating foundation (some parts of the building had sunk as much as 1,100 mm (43 in)), and damage to the decorative oya stone that was causing pieces to fall off.

[34] Because the building structure was brick and concrete and could not be disassembled, as much of the oya stone as possible, tiles, and other finishing materials were preserved.

At the 16 October 1966, board meeting, a plan to build a new hotel, to be completed in time for Expo '70 in Osaka, was unanimously approved.

[40] The structures will be cleared, along with neighboring buildings, for construction of a new $2 billion development, which will be integrated with the adjacent Hibiya Park by a bridge covering the six-lane road that separates them.