Commission adds Takahashi Trading Company nomination to landmark work program

The Historic Preservation Commission voted on Sept. 1 to add a community-sponsored nomination for 200 Rhode Island Street, known as the Takahashi Trading Company, to the commission's landmark designation work program.

Alex Westhoff of the Planning Department introduced the nomination and said the property, a 1912 light-industrial building designed by architect Albert Landsberg, includes later interconnected additions and retains historical integrity. Architectural Resources Group historian Erica Schultz detailed the building's history and its long association with Henry and Tomoye Takahashi, who purchased the property in 1965 to house the Takahashi Trading Company and the Henry and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation.

Schultz said the Takahashi family helped revive Japantown after World War II, expanded retail operations in San Francisco, and supported cultural institutions. Staff recommended the nomination because the property meets multiple designation criteria: association with Japanese American postwar resettlement and the Takahashi family, and architectural significance as an early example of Landsberg's warehouse work.

With Commission President Matsuda recused from the item, a motion to add the nomination to the landmark designation work program was moved and seconded. The commission recorded a unanimous vote of the participating members (6–0) to add the property to the program.

Staff recommended follow-up work to advance the nomination through the designation process; no public speakers addressed the item during the meeting recorded in the transcript.