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The former Kantei, the official residence of the Japanese Prime Minister, was completed on March 18, 1929. The main part of the building was a two-storied section of reinforced concrete, and the entire building boasted a total floor space of approximately 5,200m2. With central government ministry buildings sustaining serious damage during the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1, 1923, the government of the day initiated the Central Government Ministry Construction Plan, and the Kantei was built as the flagship of the scheme. The Kantei was often confused as one of the buildings designed by the American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, designer of the former Imperial Hotel (completed July 1924). In fact, it was designed by Muraji Shimomoto, an architect from the Building Division in the Facility Management Department of the Ministry of Finance. The architectural style of Frank Lloyd Wright had a powerful influence on the Japanese architects of the time. Shimomoto later reminisced that the former Kantei "was not an imitation of Wright's work; rather, I would say it was built in the Wright style."