Richard SEEL

(1854 – 1922)

German architect who worked in the Japanese and Chinese empires | 1854 born in Wuppertal, Germany | 1875 studies architecture and joins ENDE & BÖCKMANN in Berlin | 1886 goes to Japan to direct the construction of Japanese government buildings in Tôkyô | 1888-1895 completes “Tôkyô Supreme Court” and the Ministry of Justice | 1896 stays in Japan and sets up his own architectural office in Yokohama; works on church buildings and mission schools; builts branches for the Russo-Chinese Bank in Yokohama, Kôbe, Hakodate, Shanghai, Port Arthur, Peking and Tientsin | 1903 returns to Germany; hands over his office to George DE LALANDE | 1903-10 works on theatres and other buildings | 1911 designs the “Königsberger Town Hall” | 1922 died