San Francisco Landmark 305
Takahashi Trading Company
200 Rhode Island Street
Warehouse built 1912

Takahashi Trading Company imported quality home-furnishing products from Japan for sale at retail stores in San Francisco, Sausalito and New York City.

The company was founded on Post Street in Japantown by Henri and Tomoye Takahashi after their release from the Topaz War Relocation Center in 1945.

They purchsed this property on Rhode Island Street in 1965 after their building in Japantown was demolished by the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency.

In 1985, the Takahashis, along with Tomoye’s sister Masako Martha Suzuki, established the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, which was headquartered here. The Foundation supported a variety of cultural organizations including the Japanese Wing of the San Francisco Asian Art Museum.

The family retained ownership of the property until 2019, selling it shortly after the death of Tomoye Takahashi in 2016.

Gustave Albert Lansburgh designed the 1912 five-story brick warehouse for H. Levi & Co. The trapezoidal floor plan fits its triangular parcel abutting a former Western Pacific Railroad right of way that still bisects the Showplace Square block.

Lansburgh was highly regarded as a designer of theaters in the early 20th century. This building, designed early in his career, is one of his few known warehouses.

Source: Adapted from San Francisco Landmark Designation Application dated February 16, 2022.