As of January 2025, 105 of these properties have been selected by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as Historic Landmarks, which are designated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as buildings of historical value (excluding cultural assets) that were built 50 years ago and are significant in terms of their landscape. No. 1 Bldg. was the first building owned by Sophia University to be selected in June 2024. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s press release (*1), an overview of No. 1 Building is as follows: “The building was designed by Max Heindel, a Swiss architect who designed Catholic churches throughout Japan from the Taisho era to the early Showa era in the German style and is a valuable surviving example of such architecture.

When Sophia University was founded in 1913, the campus had only one building, the red brick school building (later destroyed in the Tokyo air raid of 1945), and there was no large building such as Building No. 1. In 1928, the university was granted university status by law, and the Faculty of Humanities (Philosophy and Literature) and the Faculty of Commerce were established. In order to accommodate the large number of students, it was necessary to construct a building that could accommodate the large number of students. In fact, a plan to move the campus to Chitose-mura (then in Setagaya, Tokyo) was also under consideration. Hindel’s magnificent blueprints of the school buildings still exist. In the end, however, the relocation was not realized, and the construction of a new school building (Building No. 1, with a floor area of approximately 4,582 square meters) began on the Yotsuya campus.

The construction was financed by donations. The fundraising effort was led by a German, Father Bruno Bittel (1898-1988). He appealed to Catholic churches and schools not only in Germany but also in the Netherlands, France, and the United States “for a new building for the Catholic University of Japan”. The fundraising form shows a picture of a red brick school building before the collapse in the earthquake, with a text asking for support and an illustration of a brick with one Reichsmark (1 RM, the official currency of Germany at the time) printed underneath. It appears that donors signed the bricks according to the amount of money they were willing to donate. This activity was called “brick donation”. It conveys the fact that Building No. 1 was built by the goodwill of people from various countries.

The ground floor of Building 1 no longer serves its former purpose and is now used primarily as classrooms. The auditorium is still used for theatrical performances. In September 2022, the “S-Terrace,” a staircase-like space for rest and recreation, was installed along the exterior wall, and the bust of the first president of Sophia University, Hermann Hoffmann (1913-1937), stands in the center of the building, with Building No. 1 in the background, surrounded by students as it always has been. The statue will continue to watch over the students and Sophia University.