{"schema":"https://ver.cy/schemas/card/1.0.0","id":"vr.tr.western-style-building","code":"thing-q867703","url":"https://ver.cy/models/thing/q867703/","name":"Western-style building","alternateNames":[],"kind":"thing","status":"published","version":"0.2.0-wave.5","language":"en","classifiers":{"family":"Thing Registry","category":"Physical world and living systems","entryKind":"thing","plane":"PHY","domain":["PHY.BLT"],"industry":[],"navPath":"","tags":[],"facets":{}},"whatItIs":"A building in East Asia built in a Western (European or American) architectural style, especially from the mid-19th century onward, such as the Japanese seiyokan or yokan, the Korean yang-ok and the Chinese yanglou; often residences, consulates, banks and schools of the modernisation era, many now protected as heritage.","purpose":"Let an agent describe Western-style buildings in East Asia, their history, styles and heritage status, from heritage sources.","scope":{"in":[],"out":[],"boundaries":[]},"distinguishingFeatures":["An umbrella category spanning several Western styles and local adaptations; Japanese giyofu buildings are a historical hybrid by local carpenters.","Clusters survive in former treaty ports and foreign settlements, such as Nagasaki's timber Glover House (1863).","Many are protected, such as Important Cultural Properties in Japan."],"structure":{"bundles":[{"id":"building","name":"Building","description":"Which building.","layers":[{"id":"identity","name":"Identity","description":"Name and place.","findings":[{"id":"building","name":"Building","description":"Name and location.","questions":[{"text":"Which building?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Where?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"date","name":"Date","description":"Construction.","findings":[{"id":"date","name":"Date","description":"Year and builder.","questions":[{"text":"When was it built?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"By whom?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"style","name":"Style","description":"Architecture.","layers":[{"id":"style","name":"Style","description":"Western style.","findings":[{"id":"style","name":"Style","description":"Style.","questions":[{"text":"Which Western and local forms and building traditions does it combine?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Per which survey?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"materials","name":"Materials","description":"Construction.","findings":[{"id":"materials","name":"Materials","description":"Materials.","questions":[{"text":"Which materials?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Per which survey?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"heritage","name":"Heritage","description":"Protection.","layers":[{"id":"designation","name":"Designation","description":"Status.","findings":[{"id":"designation","name":"Designation","description":"Category and date.","questions":[{"text":"Is it designated?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Since when?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"condition","name":"Condition","description":"State.","findings":[{"id":"condition","name":"Condition","description":"Description.","questions":[{"text":"What is its condition?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Restored when?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]},{"id":"history","name":"History","description":"Context.","layers":[{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"Settlement or modernisation.","findings":[{"id":"context","name":"Context","description":"Description.","questions":[{"text":"Why was it built in Western style?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Per which history?","kind":"provenance"}]}]},{"id":"use","name":"Use","description":"Current use.","findings":[{"id":"use","name":"Use","description":"Use.","questions":[{"text":"What is it used for now?","kind":"provenance"},{"text":"Open to visitors?","kind":"provenance"}]}]}]}]},"agentConduct":{"may":["describe buildings and heritage status"],"mustNot":["give structural safety judgements"],"requiresHuman":[]},"ethics":{"considerations":["colonial and treaty-port history","heritage conservation"],"affectedParties":["local communities"]},"owners":{"steward":"the owner of each building","roles":[],"masterSystems":["national heritage registers"]},"relations":[{"target":"Q41176","type":"parent","note":"registry parent class"},{"target":"building","type":"related","note":"built structure"},{"target":"Western architecture","type":"related","note":"style"},{"target":"East Asia","type":"related","note":"region"},{"target":"cultural heritage","type":"related","note":"status"}],"interaction":{"identity":{"applicability":"required","items":["Vercy registry: vr.tr.western-style-building","Wikidata: Q867703 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q867703)","Japan Agency for Cultural Affairs heritage database ID: numeric for designated buildings"]},"properties":{"applicability":"required","items":["construction period: mostly mid-19th to mid-20th century"]},"recognition":{"applicability":"required","items":["Victorian, colonial or neoclassical facades in East Asian cities, such as in Kobe, Nagasaki or Gulangyu","Buildings with Western features such as brick, stone or timber walls, sash windows, verandas, columns and pitched roofs, in an East Asian setting."]},"capabilities":{"applicability":"required","items":["describe history and examples","explain styles and builders","find heritage designations","distinguish pseudo-Western (giyofu) buildings"]},"hazards":{"applicability":"required","items":["Earthquake vulnerability of unreinforced masonry"]},"interfaces":{"applicability":"required","items":["Japan Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties","Korea Act on Conservation and Utilization of Cultural Heritage"]},"context":{"applicability":"required","items":["Housing, commerce and administration in Western architectural forms.","seiyokan and yokan (Japan)","giyofu hybrid buildings (Japan)","yang-ok (Korea)","yanglou (China)","foreign settlement residences","banks and consulates"]}},"sources":[{"title":"Q867703","url":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q867703","note":"identity of the registry item, labels and sitelinks"},{"title":"Giyofu architecture","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giy%C5%8Df%C5%AB_architecture","note":"pseudo-Western buildings in Japan"},{"title":"Former Glover House","url":"https://www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db/R1-00713.html","note":"Glover House, its 1863 construction and carpenter Koyama Hidenoshin."},{"title":"Former Glover Residence, main building","url":"https://online.bunka.go.jp/db/heritages/detail/124334","note":"Wooden construction, 1863 date, numeric heritage record and Important Cultural Property designation."},{"title":"The Invaluable Indigene: Local Expertise in the Imperial Context","url":"https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/3009154/1/Jackson.Gaikokujin%20%26%20Giyofu.03.pdf","note":"Giyofu, local carpenters, Western architectural adaptation and treaty-port history."},{"title":"Kulangsu, a Historic International Settlement","url":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1541/","note":"Chinese and Western architectural mixtures, historical period, hybrid styles and heritage protection."},{"title":"Statutes administered by the Korea Heritage Service","url":"https://elaw.klri.re.kr/eng_mobile/soganList.do?seq=26","note":"Current titles of cultural-heritage legislation, including modern and contemporary heritage legislation."}],"openQuestions":["The Wikidata English description is only 'architectural style'; the linked articles (ja, ko, zh) describe Western-style buildings in East Asia."],"resources":{"spec":"/models/things/publications/thing-q867703/spec.json"},"provenance":{"origin":"thing registry research (pass 2)","builtFrom":["models/things/publications/thing-q867703/spec.json"],"providers":["Claude"],"researchStatus":"unreviewed","generatedAt":"2026-10-22T11:24:43Z","builder":"tools/build_cards.py@1.0.0"},"completeness":{"sections":{"classifiers":"filled","whatItIs":"filled","purpose":"filled","distinguishingFeatures":"filled","structure":"filled","agentConduct":"filled","ethics":"filled","owners":"filled","relations":"filled","interaction.identity":"filled","interaction.properties":"filled","interaction.recognition":"filled","interaction.capabilities":"filled","interaction.hazards":"filled","interaction.interfaces":"filled","interaction.context":"filled","sources":"filled"},"notes":{"_gate":"Published through the thing publication gate 1.0 on 2026-10-22T12:01:01+00:00: completeness 1.00; sense: Wikidata description; 7 live sources; review by codex: pass"},"score":1.0}}