During the Meiji era (1868 – 1912), many foreigners residing in Japan often came up to visit Nikko, fascinated by the history, culture and its beautiful nature. F. W. Horn, the founder of Nippon Phonograph Corporation (predecessor of Nippon Columbia) which manufactured and sold electric gramophones and records for the first time in Japan and also known as the "father of the gramophone", was one of them.
The American style cottage he built in Nikko is a valuable modern legacy. Demanding only the best, the walls of this cottage were built using Nikko stones and a time consuming and labor intensive stone masonry technique.
When Aoi Shigemitsu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, lost his house during the Great Tokyo Air Raid bombing, he was temporarily evacuated to this house and also left for the signing of the surrender treaty from this very house.
In 1977, this historically significant building was carefully renovated to a Western style restaurant, "Meiji-no-Yakata", while maintaining its modern legacy and in 2006, it was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property as a valuable building representing the Meiji era.