There are precious few opportunities to enjoy old architecture in Tokyo, especially when measured against other world-class cities like London and Paris. Natural disasters, war, and relentless development have taken their toll. This distinct lack of older buildings makes it all the more surprising that a true gem of Art Deco architecture survives in a central part of Tokyo. What's more, it's open to the public and easily visited.

Built in 1933 for a member of the Imperial Family, the former Prince Asaka Residence is now the main building of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. The museum has recently reopened after a three-year renovation project, although the extensive gardens remain closed until at least April. Much-needed repairs were made to the residence, and some spaces -- notably the prince's sitting room on the second floor -- have been nicely restored to their original condition. During the museum's closure a new annex was built, allowing the facility to expand its mission to include larger exhibitions, as well as workshops and performances.

The term "Art Deco" derives from the name of a world's fair, the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in Paris in 1925. It refers to an influential style in visual arts, widely showcased at that fair, which first appeared in France after World War I and spread throughout the world during the following decades. In contrast to the Art Nouveau style that preceded it, Art Deco motifs favored symmetry, straight lines and repeated geometric shapes. Architecture was an integral part of this new wave of visual design. Buildings were seen as the setting for other modes of expression, whether paintings and sculpture, or furniture, fixtures, and fashion. Art Deco buildings were often constructed with new materials such as reinforced concrete and large plates of glass that allowed for clean, modernist lines.

	The south-facing veranda overlooks the garden. More than 20 different types of stone were used in the Prince Asaka Residence, including rare, imported marbles.

The Prince Asaka Residence was built in Art Deco style because the prince and his wife Princess Nobuko, who was the eighth daughter of the Meiji Emperor, were in Paris together in 1925. They visited the exhibition and were enchanted with what they saw. Upon their return to Japan, they engaged Henri Rapin (1873-1939), an influential figure at the exhibition who had a hand in several of its main pavilions, to design the interior of a new home for them. Although Rapin did not travel to Japan for the commission, he provided the designs for the most important rooms and personally painted the murals that grace the walls in several rooms on the first floor. He also brought in four French colleagues to contribute to the project, including famed glass artist René Lalique (1860-1945). Lalique provided chandeliers for the salon and great dining hall, as well as custom-designed glass-relief doors for the front entrance hall.

The current exhibition, Fantaisie Merveilleuse: Classicism in French Art Deco, provides welcome context for Rapin's murals, which, as the catalog notes, "are somewhat at odds with the conventional image of Art Deco as a modern style." For the small drawing room, salon and great dining hall, Rapin painted bucolic scenes featuring decorative structures, water fountains and flower garlands, all of which are elements associated with Classicism. As the exhibition makes clear, Rapin was not unique in his interest in Classicism; many other French artists of that period sought to create a contemporary style by blending Classicism with elements of modernism and exoticism.

The exhibition presents more than 80 works, mostly borrowed from French museums, that are displayed throughout the residence and in a gallery in the annex next door. Most are by French artists who played an important role in the development of Art Deco design yet are relatively unknown today, including painters Jean Dupas (1882-1964) and Eugène-Robert Poughéon (1886-1955), and furniture designer Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1879-1933).

Some standouts are the 1930 painting The Serpent by Poughéon, who studied classical methods at L'école nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, and went to Rome as a recipient of the prestigious Prix de Rome. Another sumptuous work is Ruhlmann's cabinet of Macassar ebony. The front is inlaid with ivory and mahogany to represent an urn full of stylized flowers. Fans of Lalique's glasswork will enjoy several works on loan from the Lalique Museum in Hakone, Japan, including perfume bottles, a vase, a clock, and a large centerpiece. There is also an example of Lalique's famous Spirit of the Wind automobile ornament in opalescent glass, newly acquired for the Teien Art Museum's own collection.

By preserving the collective talents of five French artists who were at the center of design during the period between the wars, the Prince Asaka Residence stands as an excellent example of French Art Deco. Yet it should also be appreciated as representative of Japanese Art Deco style; as Art Deco spread from France to the rest of the world, designers in each region added local symbols and motifs, creating distinct variants such as Shanghai Deco, India Deco, and Stalin Deco.

For the Prince Asaka Residence, the exterior design and overall responsibility was entrusted to Yokichi Gondo (1895-1970), a star architect with the Construction Bureau of the Imperial Household Ministry. Gondo had been to Europe to study homes for the aristocracy, and visited the 1925 exhibition in Paris. With this first-hand knowledge of the latest Parisian trends, Gondo supervised a team of highly talented Japanese designers and craftsmen who often incorporated traditional patterns into their work. A good example can be seen in the ironwork radiator covers embellished with a seigaiha pattern, a traditional motif that represents waves with overlapping concentric circles. The contributions of these pioneers in Japanese Art Deco design are concentrated on the second floor in the private quarters for the family, which are more subdued than Rapin's highly decorated and richly colored public spaces downstairs.

Fantaisie Merveilleuse: Classicism in French Art Deco Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum 17 January - 7 April 2015

	Alice Gordenker Alice Gordenker is a writer and translator based in Tokyo, where she has lived for more than 16 years. In addition to writing about the Japanese art scene she pens the "So, What the Heck Is That?" column for The Japan Times, which provides in-depth reports on everything from industrial safety to traditional talismans. She also writes about early Japanese photography.