Weathercock House (The Former Thomas House)

The Weathercock House stands in Kitano-cho, Kobe's foreign residential district, where merchants and diplomats built Western-style homes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This particular brick mansion was completed in 1904 for a German trader and designed by Georg de Lalande in a neo-Baroque style that would not look out of place in Hamburg. The weathervane cockerel on the rooftop gives the building its popular name. The interior has been restored with period furniture and is open to visitors. Kitano-cho has around a dozen such ijinkan, foreign residences, clustered within walking distance, and a combined ticket covers several of them.