Buildings | Page 36 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

July 23, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Wailuku Civic Center Historic District

The Wailuku Civic Center Historic District is comprised of several buildings (recognized on the State and National Registers of Historic Places) that generally front on South High Street and constitute the core of governmental structures in Wailuku, the Maui County seat.

Following annexation, the Territorial government passed the County Act in 1905, establishing county governments on the four largest islands in the Hawaiʻi chain.

The act named Wailuku the County seat of Maui, although a number of people were advocating that Lāhainā, the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, be accorded this right.

The citizens of east and central Maui, who comprised three quarters of the island’s population, reasonably argued that with the growth and dominance of sugar production on the island, Wailuku had replaced Lāhainā as Maui’s center of wealth, business and population.

Wailuku originally was a Hawaiian settlement. In 1832, a mission was established there under the leadership of Jonathan S. Green.

Very little development occurred, however, until after the Wailuku Sugar Company commenced its operations in 1862. This led to the growth and eventual prosperity of the town.

Following the naming of Wailuku as Maui’s County seat, the first substantial government building erected in the town was the district courthouse.

The county government remained housed in leased commercial space, a small wooden office building and the community hall, until 1925 when the current Police Station was built to accommodate the demand for adequate office space.

The construction of this building was hailed by the local press as, “another step in the establishment of an attractive civic center,” and the writer looked forward to the day when, “all the civic needs will be appropriately housed in one center.”

The construction of the public library in 1928 was another step in reaching this desired goal, and the Territory’s decision to purchase a corner of the property owned by Kaʻahumanu Church for the construction of the Territorial Office Building in 1930, assured the civic center.

The buildings within the district house State and County government offices, courts, and the public library, and serve as a hub of governmental activity for the island of Maui.

Built within a twenty-four year period, the historic structures represent the architectural aspirations of their time, employing the popular Beaux Arts revival, Mediterranean revival and Hawaiian styles.

These buildings are all of masonry construction and of one or two stories in height, which is in keeping with the scale of most of the city.

The oldest of the buildings is the County Courthouse, erected in 1907. Designed by Honolulu architect H. L. Kerr, it is a Beaux Arts inspired building constructed of cast hollow concrete block which mimetically perpetuates dressed stone.

Next to, and set back from, the Courthouse is the County Office Building, a nine-story building constructed in 1972.

Standing on the other side of the County Office Building is The Police Station. Built in 1925, this reinforced concrete building was designed in a simple Mediterranean style by Maui architect William D’Esmond.

Across South High Street on either corner of the intersection with Aupuni Street stand the Wailuku Library (completed in 1928) and the former Territorial Building (completed in 1931, it now houses the State’s judiciary.) Both of these Mediterranean revival/Hawaiian style buildings were designed by CW Dickey.

Other sites in the vicinity, but not part of the formal “Historic District” include Halekiʻi – Pihana Heiau, Kaʻahumanu Church and Hale Ho‘ike‘ike/Old Bailey House.

Haleki‘i and Pihana Heiau are the most accessible of the remaining pre-contact Hawaiian structures of religious and historical importance in the Wailuku-Kahului area; they are located along the west side of Iao Stream.

Traditional history credits the menehune with the construction of both heiau in a single night; other accounts say they were built under the rule of Kahekili.

In 1832, Queen Kaahumanu visited a religious service by Jonathan Smith Green, and later requested that a more permanent church structure be named for her; ultimately, Reverend Edward Bailey fulfilled her request in 1876 when the current structure was built.

Hale Ho‘ike‘ike, the Old Bailey House, is a combination of four structures built between 1835 and 1850. Originally built as a parsonage for the ministers of the Wailuku Church, it’s now operated by the Maui Historical Society as a museum.

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Wailuku_Civic_Center_Historic_District-Top_L_to_R-Courthouse-Old-Police-Station-Bottom-Wailuku-Library-Territorial-Building

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Maui-Wailuku-OldPoliceStation-front

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Maui-Wailuku-OldPoliceStation

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Maui-Wailuku-Library-front

Maui_Wailuku_Courthouse

Kaahumanu_Church,_South_High_Street,_Wailuku_(Maui_County,_Hawaii)

Remains_of_Belfry_Kaahumanu_Church

Kaahumanu_Church,_South_High_Street,_Wailuku_(Maui_County,_Hawaii)

Auxiliary_Building_behind_Kaahumanu_Church

Honoli’i_Park

Haleki’i-Pihana_Heiau_State_Monument-looking from the bridge across the Iao Stream in Pakukalo-Waiehu

Bailey_House_Maui

Welcome_to_Bailey_House

Cannon_from_the_battle_of_Iao_Valley-Bailey_House_Museum

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Wailuku_Historic_District-Map

Wailuku Civic Center Historic District-Map

July 17, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pālama Settlement

Central Union Church dates back to the days of the Seaman’s Bethel Church in 1828. It was formally founded in 1887 and it moved into its present location in 1924.

In addition to developing new institutions within the church, the congregation made great strides in the field of missionary work in the city of Honolulu, including the beginning of the present Pālama Settlement.

Pālama, then a sleepy neighborhood of neat little cottages and taro patches, was chosen by philanthropist and Central Union members Mr. and Mrs. PC Jones as the site for a new chapel.

On the makai side of King street, opposite Liliha Street, the chapel was dedicated on June 1, 1896, and presented to Central Union by the Joneses, on the condition that the church …

… “maintain public preaching there on Sundays, a weekly prayer meeting, sustain a Sabbath school and also an occasional social for the residents of Pālama, the services to be conducted in the English language.”

Located west of Nuʻuanu Stream, near Downtown Honolulu, Pālama was home to mostly working-class Hawaiian families.

Walter F. Dillingham, long active in philanthropic endeavors in Honolulu, once observed of Pālama: “One must picture Honolulu at the end of the century with its mixture of races, their variety of foods, dress, cultures, customs and living habits. All this gave Honolulu a character and personality not duplicated in any American city.”

“The business section was composed mainly of low framed buildings with corrugated iron roofs near the water front. Streets were unpaved, horse-drawn vehicles, with the ox-cart was a common sight. Taro patches, duck ponds and even sugar cane grew in the section of Palama. It was in such a section that Palama Chapel was built and which grew to be Palama Settlement.” (HJH)

In 1900, as Honolulu health officials attempted to rid the nearby Chinatown area of bubonic plague, fire destroyed a four-block section. Displaced residents took up residence in newly built tenements in Pālama, changing the physical, social and economic make-up of the community.

The chapel’s staff located housing for many of the displaced and took care of the injured and children. It also ministered to the needs of immigrants who moved into the Pālama area soon after arriving in the Islands.

Social worker James Arthur Rath, Sr. and his wife, Ragna Helsher Rath, turned Pālama Chapel into Pālama Settlement (in September 1906,) a chartered, independent, non-sectarian organization receiving contributions from the islands’ elite.

“… they called them ‘settlement houses,’ the philosophy being that the head worker, as they called them, settled in the community. Instead of going in to spend the day working and coming out, they settled in, raised their families there and in that way learned …”

“… one, what the people needed; two, gained their confidence so that they could help them fulfill their needs; and then, three, went ahead and designed programs for exactly what the people needed.”

“So they were settlers and therefore they called them settlement houses. Which is what the origin of Pālama Settlement was because my father and my mother settled there and all five of us children were born and raised in our home in the settlement.” (Robert H. Rath, Sr)

The Raths established the territory’s first public nursing department, a day-camp for children with tuberculosis, a pure milk depot, a day nursery, a night school, and low-rent housing.

In 1908, an indoor swimming pool was opened, and a year later, a gymnasium and bowling alley were built above it. Later, outdoors, a playground, tennis court, and basketball court were added.

Also that year, a new Parish House was erected on an adjacent property at Richards Street, to be used for Sunday School classes and midweek meetings

After a territory-wide fund-raising effort, in 1925 Pālama Settlement moved to its present location with nine buildings spread over eight acres of land on Vineyard and Pālama streets.

Over the years, a medical clinic, an outpatient clinic and the Strong-Carter Dental Clinic were established along with annual circuses, athletic competitions, social and community-service clubs, boardinghouses for women and a preschool. Classes and events relating to music, arts, vocations, and athletics were also offered.

World War II and the postwar era brought about widespread changes in Hawai‘i’s social, economic, and political environment. These developments, in turn, led to changes in the way social agencies such as Pālama Settlement addressed community needs.

Observers noted that Pālama Settlement was departing from its original settlement house philosophy by offering programs for fees and catering to a broad cross section of people regardless of where they lived.

The 1960s and 1970s were periods of re-evaluation, adjustment, and growth, with the settlement’s programs becoming more people-centered rather than activity-centered, stressing human and community needs as opposed to uncoordinated, departmentalized activities, following the large-scale social and economic programs being implemented nationally.

Civil rights and anti-poverty legislation brought large amounts of federal monies to Pālama Settlement for local programs geared to at-risk youth and community development.

Pālama Settlement – a smaller one due to the widening of Vineyard Boulevard and the construction of the H-1 Freeway – continues to exist as a nonprofit, nongovernmental agency dedicated to helping needy families and at-risk youths.

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Palama Chapel-(centralunionchurch-org)-circa 1897-1901

Original Palama Settlement at King and Liliha streets-(HJH)-circa 1912

Palama_Settlement-(palamasettlement-org)

James Arthur Rath (1870-1929) and Ragna Helsher Rath (1879-1981)founded Pälama Settlement in 1905-(honoluluadvertiser)

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Palama Settlement Swim Meet-(hawaii-edu)-1932

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If you had a toothache in 1935, you could get dental work done at Palama Settlement

July 12, 2019 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

La Pietra

Papaʻenaʻena heiau was situated on the side of Lēʻahi, Diamond Head. It was referred to by early writers as “Lēʻahi heiau.”

Papaʻenaʻena was reportedly built by Maui King Kahekili to commemorate his conquest of Oʻahu. This heiau was destroyed in about 1856 and its stones were carted off to Waikīkī for use as rock walls and driveways.

During the Mahele this site was given by the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi to the future King Lunalilo. After the king’s death this site was sold to James Campbell, in 1883. Later, Walter F. Dillingham bought the land from Campbell.

In 1910, Walter Dillingham married Louise Gaylord. Bucking the current trend of wealthy families living in Mānoa, Mr. Dillingham chose to build his new bride a home on a dry and – at the time – remote area on the slopes of Diamond Head.

With the help of famed Chicago architect, David Adler, they built a home similar to the Villa La Pietra they admired in Tuscany while on their honeymoon.

Three elements compose the central structure. One is facing the northward toward the Koʻolau range, one westward to the Waianae range, and one southward to the sea.

All three face inward on a flagged courtyard surrounded by a pillared arcade. In the center of the courtyard is an Italianate fountain, which was used to cool the building when the breeze swept through the structure.

The building is a composite of villa, as noted by Grace Tower Warren, Island Hostess: An Italian Villa in Hawaii, Paradise of the Pacific, Vol. 63:
“Many people have had the idea that La Pietra is a copy of my aunt’s villa in Florence of the same name, the one In which Mr. Dillingham and I were married, but such is not the case”, said Mrs. Dillingham.

“It is a composite of several of the beautiful villas in Florence to which my aunt, Mrs. Acton, took me, The facade facing the Waianae Mountains and the town is copied from the Villa Cambreia, The facade facing the Koolau Mountains is a replica of the de Medici villa in Florence. Our architect was David Adler, and he beautifully combined and coordinated the designs and ideas we loved…”

Mr. Dillingham and Adler did not work together in person. At the time Adler was designing another residence in New York. So Mr. Dillingham sent Mr. Adler detailed measurements and contour maps of the site, and photographs showing the setting in which the villa would stand.

With that, La Pietra – meaning The Gem or The Rock – was born.

The Dillingham home was completed in 1922 and included 5 bedrooms, a swimming pool, a formal dining room, horse stables, servants’ quarters, tennis courts, and a game/pool table room.

Architecturally, the home is described as “An extensive two-story “Italian villa” in an imposing terraced setting overlooking Kapiʻolani Park, Waikiki Bay and Honolulu; an example of the “Mediterranean Revival” period which had some popularity in Honolulu, as on the mainland.”

For the next 40 years, La Pietra was a social center for Honolulu’s wealthy and famous, with visitors to the estate including Franklin D. Roosevelt and Walt Disney.

Upon Mr. Dillingham’s death in 1963, Punahou School gained ownership of La Pietra and used it for faculty housing; the property was eventually sold to the newly formed Hawaii School for Girls in 1969.

With its start at Central Union Church, Hawaii School for Girls then renamed and relocated to La Pietra – Hawaii School for Girls, an independent, college preparatory school for girls, which consisted of nine founding teachers, 210 girls and Head of School, Joseph Pynchon.

Over the years, various enhancements were made to the campus. A six classroom building named in honor of Mrs. Cooke was dedicated in January 1977.

The athletic complex, completed in 1987, was named in honor of Mrs. Anthony in 2008. Bachman Science Center was built in 1997. Most recently, the school renovated its library to create Hawaii’s first all-digital school library.

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La Pietra

Walter_Francis_Dillingham-(WC)

June 29, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kamehameha V Cottage

Prince Lot Kapuāiwa, who later became Kamehameha V, owned a cottage in an area now known as Moanalua Gardens next to a kalo patch, a fishpond and Chinese Hall. Moanalua Gardens is a 24-acre privately-owned public park in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The cottage, built during the 1850s, is a single-story wooden structure laid out in Hawaiian style with a Victorian motif.

The building is comprised of three separate units: a cooking and eating unit; a living and sleeping unit; and an entertaining pavilion (this third unit is a post-Kamehameha V addition). The units are all attached to each other by a series of roofed lanai.

The exterior wall of the center building is made of clapboard whereas that of the dining and kitchen hall is made of board and batten.

The exterior trim is of Victorian Gingerbread (the cresting), accenting each of the different roof styles of the units (gable, simple shed, hip, and domelike roofs). The single unifying factor of the roof in the overall building is the consistent use of wooden shingles.

The original cottage (the center unit) was very simple with minimal ornamentation. The revival of hula performances may have had some influence on the construction as the original cottage had a lanai that completely surrounded the building where hula could have been performed for invited guests.

In 1856, Prince Lot built the kitchen and dining unit as a separate building using tongue-and-groove material with vertical molded battens over the joints.

Lot Kapuāiwa, four years older than his brother Kamehameha IV, ascended to the throne at his brother’s death in 1863. Like his brother, he ruled for nine years (1863 to 1872.)

In 1864, when it appeared that a new constitution could not be agreed upon, he declared that the Constitution of 1852 be replaced by one he had written himself.

Kamehameha V (Lot) founded the Royal Order of Kamehameha I on April 11, 1865, in commemoration of his grandfather Kamehameha the Great.

The stated purpose of the order was “to cultivate and develop, among our subjects, the feelings of honor and loyalty to our dynasty and its institutions and … to confer honorary distinctions upon such of our subjects and foreigners as have rendered, or may hereafter render to our dynasty and people, important services.”

Known as “the bachelor king,” Lot Kamehameha did not name a successor, which led to the invoking of the constitutional provision for electing kings of Hawai`i.

Under the Kingdom’s 1864 constitution, if the king did not appoint a successor, a new king would be elected by the legislature from the eligible Hawaiian royals still alive. William Charles Lunalilo and David Kalākaua were the candidates; Lunalilo was the more popular of the two.

The property was transferred to Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last of the Kamehameha line. She willed (in 1884) the ahupua‘a (land division) of Moanalua to Samuel Mills Damon.

In the 1900s, Damon renovated the cottage and used it as a residence. In 1961, lattice work around the building was added, and around 1972-1973, a new shingled roof was installed.

The building has been situated at three different Moanalua sites since its original construction. It was moved to its present location in 1960.

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June 28, 2019 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Hawaiʻi Theatre

The Hawaii Theatre is celebrating its 90th anniversary. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its excellent architectural and interior design, craftsmanship, and detailing.

The theater is a rare example of eclectic architecture that was relatively common to this area of Honolulu prior to World War II.

The theater, historically, had two primary functions. During its early years it was both a live center for the performing arts and a motion picture theater, its dual uses gradually shifted, and in later years it functioned solely as a motion picture theater.

In March, 1920, the Honolulu architectural firm of Emory and Webb was commissioned to do the design plans. On June 9, 1921, a construction contract was awarded to Pacific Engineering Company, another Hawaiian company.

Official opening of the theater was held on September 6, 1922, and was attended by Governor Wallace R. Farrington and members of the Territorial government, and members of social circles.

It is the oldest theater still remaining in Honolulu and the State of Hawaiʻi that was originally planned, built and used as a legitimate theater and concert hall.

Great pride was expressed that “the finest theater in Honolulu…is a home product.”

“Honolulu is to be congratulated on what is being done for the entertainment of its residents and visitors. It has now a most attractive and well conducted amusement place in Aloha Park and its new Hawaii Theater is as if one of the best and most attractive from the white light district of New York had been carried bodily across the continent and out into the Pacific to the Paradise of the Pacific.” (Maui News, October 3, 1922)

The theater was built at a cost of a half million dollars and was ranked with the most modern theaters in America for that period.

It was equipped with air conditioning, indirect lighting, a fire/emergency exit system, wicker chairs in the balcony and a seating capacity for 1,726 persons, and was the largest and the first modern theater in the Territory of Hawaiʻi.

The Hawaii Theatre is situated at the southwest corner of the intersection of South Pauahi and Bethel Streets in Downtown Honolulu and abuts the Chinatown Historical District.

The Hawaii Theatre opened as a showplace for vaudeville, silent films, plays, musicals, and Hawaiian entertainments. It slowly evolved into a plush movie palace until it fell on hard times in the 1970s, when Waikīkī became the entertainment destination for locals and tourists alike.

In the 1980s, concerned citizens banded together around the mission to preserve and restore the Hawaii Theatre and formed the Hawaii Theatre Center, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that owns and operates the historic Hawaii Theatre.

The Hawaii Theatre hosts approximately 100,000 patrons annually showcasing the finest in local, national, and international entertainments.

Each year the Hawaii Theatre Educational Programming Project reaches thousands of Hawaii’s children through programming geared specifically for student matinee performances. The Hawaii Theatre Center SHOWTIME! Student matinee series has drawn thousands of students to the historic theatre to experience the wonders of performance.

In 2005 the League of Historic America Theatres named it the “Outstanding Historic Theatre in America”; in 2006 the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave Hawaii Theatre its highest “Honor Award” for national preservation; and in 2006 the Hawaii Better Business Bureau presented its “Torch Award for Business Ethics” to the Hawaii Theatre Center, the first small nonprofit to receive that award.

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