Known better now as the site of Tōkyō's Imperial Palace, Edo Castle and its history date back to the founding of a feudal-era fortress by Ōta Dōkan in 1457 (although its status as a military center dates back to the Heian Period). The handing of the area over to Tokugawa Ieyasu's domain in 1590 changed the fortunes of what was until then a largely unimportant Kantō town. From 1603, Edo became the center of the Tokugawa administration, and a massive expansion of the fortress was completed in 1636. The castle proved to be short-lived though, as it was almost completely destroyed in a 1657 fire. The donjon was never rebuilt, though its foundations still stand in what is now the East Gardens (Higashi-gyōen) of the Imperial Palace.