The former house of William J. Alt and family has been designated an Important Cultural 
Asset by the Japanese government and is preserved today on its original site (now part of 
the Glover Garden complex). Built from stone (the pillars were imported from Italy), the 
house was used for only five years by the Alt family and saw a colorful variety of uses over 
the following years. In 1903 it became the property of the Ringer family, who resided here 
up to the outbreak of World War II. Damaged by the atomic bomb, the building served for 
many years as a tenement house before being purchased by Nagasaki City in 1970, 
refurbished, and opened to the public as part of Glover Garden.