1332 Sloane Avenue

1332 Sloane Avenue Lakewood, Ohio 44107 United States

Frank Tange, A prosperous Japanese tea importer, had the house built in 1912. A native of Japan, Franks Father Yasuke Miyaji, loved the United States but always felt homesick – until he took a walk and found this site. Frank bought the lot to build a home for them. The exterior concave roof and open-roofed porches were a replica of the Miyaji home in Japan. The interior was all American and modern, although he wanted sliding door walls, as in Japanese homes, the architect assured me it was not practicable in this climate. The garden and pond, even the position of each tree was also an exact reproduction of the Miyaji house. Frank brought a Japanese gardener here, with trees, shrubs and flower roots, who would test the soil and doctor it and care for it until it will receive his wares. In addition, they had a pagoda (tea house) shipped along with the gardener for a platform hanging above the river. Frank said. “It will be just like the pagoda of my father's place, but he has no such view as this.” He said “everything was there, the river was beautiful, and the steep banks, all a Beauty of nature, something that has existed for always, and the great interurban bridge, the bridge for the steam trains, and all your wonderful kinds of boats, Beautiful Lake Erie... the old days and the new, the old world and the new, are all right here within your site.” My father said. ‘It is a wonderful thing.” Excerpts from a Cleveland Leader article.