Buildings | Page 39 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 4, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Haleuluhe

Kauikeaouli, Kamehameha III, stepped into the position of King at age 10 (in 1825,) upon the death of his brother Liholiho.

Boki, governor of the island of O‘ahu, built a Honolulu royal residence called ‘Haleuluhe’ (fern house) for the young King at ‘Pelekane’ (Britannia … i.e. Beretania) in the vicinity of the site of the present St. Andrew’s (Episcopal) Cathedral.

The Rev. Charles S. Stewart, who returned to Hawaii in 1829 as Chaplain of the US ship-of-war “Vincennes,” provides a good description of this palace. His October 15, 1829 description of Haleuluhe Palace is most complete:

“The king’s establishment, but lately erected, is quite in the outskirts of the town – having the open plain towards Punchbowl Hill immediately in the rear.

“On entering it (the main entrance of the palace grounds was closed by a large white gate,) we found ourselves in a spacious yard of some acres …”

“… enclosed on all sides by a well-constructed and high fence, and furnished with two other gates similar to that through which we had passed-one, on another street, in the direction of the residences of most of the chiefs in the neighborhood of the chapel and mission houses, and the other, inland towards the hill and valleys.”

“Everything within, appeared exceedingly neat. On the side of the square at which we entered and near the gate, there are three or four good sized houses, but not differing, externally, from most of the better kind of native dwellings. These, we were informed, are the dining and sleeping rooms, offices, etc., of the king and his household.

“At a considerable distance, on the opposite side, stands the palace – a fine lofty building of thatch, some hundred or more feet in length, fifty or sixty broad, and forty or more high …”

“… beautifully finished and ornamented at the corners, from the ground to the peak, and along the ridge of the roof, with a rich edging of fern leaves (uluhe fern: Dicranopteris linearis, also known as false staghorn fern]”.

“It is enclosed by a handsome and substantial palisade fence, with two gates-one large, in front, and a smaller at the side and a pebbled area within.”

“All the timbers in sight, the numerous posts, rafters, and centre pillars, are of a fine substantial size, and of a dark hard wood, hewn with the nicest regularity. The lashing of sinnit [sennit], made of the fibres of the cocoanut bleached white, are put on with such neatness, and wrought into so beautiful a pattern, at close and regular intervals …”

“… as to give to the posts and rafters the appearance of being divided into natural sections by them; and to produce, by the whiteness and nice workmanship of the braid, in contrast with the colors of the wood, an effect striking and highly ornamental.”

“But that, which most attracted my admiration in the building, is an improvement – a device of native ingenuity – of which I was told, we then saw the first specimen, and which gives to the interior a finish, as beautiful as appropriate, to such an edifice.”

“It is a lining between the timbers and the thatch, screening entirely from sight, the grass of which the external covers is composed; and, which always gives an air of rudeness, and a barnyard look, even to the handsomest and best finished of their former establishments.”

“The manufacture is from a small, round mountain vine, of a rich chestnut color (some say the stem of the uluhe fern) – tied horizontally, stem upon stem, as closely as possible, in the manner, and probably in imitation, of the painted window blinds of split bamboo, brought from the East Indies, once much in fashion and still occasionally seen in the United States.”

“The whole of the inside, from the floor to the peak of the roof – a height of at least forty feet – is covered with this, seemingly in one piece; imparting by the beauty of its color and entire effect, an air of richness to the room, not dissimilar to that of the tapestry, and arras hangings of more polished audience chambers.”

“The floor also is a novelty, and an experiment here: consisting – in place of the ground strewn with rushes or grass, as a foundation for the mats, as was formerly the case – of a pavement of stone and mortar, spread with a cement of lime, having all the smoothness and hardness of marble.”

“Upon this, beautifully variegated mats of Tauai (island of Kauai) were spread – forming a carpet as delightful, and appropriate to the climate, as could have been selected.”

“Large windows on either side, and the folding doors of glass at each end, are hung with draperies of crimson damask; besides which, and the mats on the floors, the furniture consists of handsome pier tables, and large mirrors; of a line of glass chandeliers suspended through the centre … and of portraits in oil of the late king and queen, taken in London, placed at the upper end, in carved frames richly gilt.”

“In the middle of the room, about sixty feet in front, or two thirds the length of the apartment, the young monarch was seated, in an armchair, spread with a splendid cloak of yellow feathers.”

“His dress was the Windsor uniform, of the first rank, with epaulettes of gold – the present of George IV – and an undress of white, with silk stockings and pumps.”

“On a sofa, immediately on his right, were Ka‘ahumanu, the regent, and the two ex-queens, Kīna’u – at present the wife of General Kekūanaō‘a and Kekauruohe (Kekauluohi).“ (Information here is from ‘Palace and Forts of the Hawaiian Kingdom.’)

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July 24, 2019 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Coral Construction

Hawaiian architecture evolved over time, starting with Hawaiians use of natural resources, to influences from all of the various visitors to Hawaiʻi.

Soon after missionary arrival, builders began to incorporate coral blocks from Hawaiʻi’s reefs, with the coral serving as a substitute for bricks the American and Europeans used in their homeland.

Here are a few examples of existing or remnants remaining today of the early use of coral blocks in building construction.

Chamberlain House

Nearby at what is now the Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, the Chamberlain House (Ka Hale Kamalani) was built in 1831 from materials procured locally: coral blocks cut from reefs offshore and lumber salvaged from ships.

Designed by the mission’s quartermaster, Levi Chamberlain, to hold supplies as well as people, it had two stories, an attic, and a cellar. The windows are larger, more numerous, and shuttered against the sun. The building now serves as the main exhibition hall for the Museum.

Lāhainā Fort Ruins

The reconstructed remains of one old Lāhainā Fort wall still stand at this old lockup. This fort overlooked one of the canals of Lāhainā, now a paved street, and was built to protect the town after unruly sailors who fired a canon at Rev. Richard’s house.

The fort was built in 1831-1832 in which to incarcerate rowdy sailors and others who disobeyed the law. The fort was used mostly as a prison. It was torn down in the 1850s to supply stones for the construction of Hale Paʻahao – the prison on Prison Street.

Kawaiahaʻo Church

Down the street, Congregational missionaries had earlier begun (1836) the construction of Kawaiahaʻo Church. The “Stone Church,” as it came to be known, is in fact not built of stone, but of giant slabs of coral hewn from ocean reefs.

These slabs had to be quarried from under water; each weighed more than 1,000 pounds. Natives dove 10 to 20 feet to hand-chisel these pieces from the reef, then raised them to the surface, loaded some 14,000 of the slabs into canoes and ferried them to shore.

Following five years of construction, The Stone Church was ready for dedication ceremonies on July 21, 1842. King Kamehameha III, who contributed generously to the fund to build the church, attended the service.

Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace

Catholic missionaries broke ground for the new church to be built on July 9, 1840. It coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of Peace, patroness of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary religious institute of which the missionaries were members

The cornerstone was officially laid in a ceremony on August 6 of that year. Construction continued after groundbreaking with devoted Native Hawaiian volunteers harvesting blocks of coral from the shores of Ala Moana, Kakaʻako and Waikīkī. On August 14, 1843, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace was consecrated and dedicated.

Print House

Also at Mission Houses, in 1841, a covered porch and balcony were added to the frame house, and an extra bedroom was built next door out of coral blocks. Both additions show further adaptation to an indoor-outdoor lifestyle appropriate to the climate.

The extra coral building later became the mission’s Print House (Ka Hale Paʻi) and now serves as a museum exhibit to show how the missionaries and native Hawaiians worked together to produce the first materials printed in the Hawaiian language.

ʻIolani Palace Barracks

Originally completed in 1871, and looking like a medieval castle, 4000-coral blocks were stacked with parapets and towers to make Halekoa, the ʻIolani Barracks (with its open courtyard surrounded by rooms once used by the guards as a mess hall, kitchen, dispensary, berth room, and lockup.)

The Barracks was originally located on what are now the grounds of the Hawaiʻi State Capitol, mauka of the Palace. After being dismantled block by block, ʻIolani Barracks was moved and reconstructed at its present location in 1965.

Fort Kekuanohu (Fort at Honolulu)

Back in Honolulu, in 1815, Kamehameha I granted Russian representatives permission to build a storehouse near Honolulu Harbor. Instead, they began building a fort and raised the Russian flag. When Kamehameha discovered this, the Russians were removed.

The fort had 340-by-300-foot long, 12-foot high and 20-foot thick walls made of coral. Its original purpose was to protect Honolulu by keeping enemy or otherwise undesirable ships out. But, it was also used to keep things in (it also served as a prison.)

The fort’s massive 12-foot walls were torn apart and the fort dismantled in 1857 and used to fill the harbor to accommodate an expanding downtown.

Honolulu Harbor – Esplanade – Harbor Expansion

As Honolulu developed and grew, lots of changes happened, including along its waterfront. What is now known as Queen Street was actually the water’s edge.

Then, from 1856 to 1860, the work of filling in the land to create an area known as the “Esplanade” or “Ainahou,” and building up a water-front and dredging the harbor to a depth from 20 to 25-feet took place.

Following the demolition of Fort Kekuanohu (Fort Honolulu) in 1857; its walls became the 2,000-foot retaining wall used to extend the land out onto the shallow reef in the harbor.

The remaining fort materials were used as fill to create what came to be known as the Esplanade (it’s where Aloha Tower and surrounding land now stand – evidence of the coral blocks from the old Fort can still be seen at Pier 12, ʻEwa of the Aloha Tower cruise ship pier.)

Hawaiʻi law (§171-58.5 HRS) now prohibits the mining or taking of sand, dead coral or coral rubble, rocks, soil or other marine deposits seaward from the shoreline, except for non-commercial uses in volumes that do not exceed 1-gallon per person per day, or to allow replenishment or protection of public shoreline area and government maintenance of stream mouths and shoreline.

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Kawaiahao_Church-1900

Kawaiahao_Church

Lahaina-Old-Fort

Iolani_Barracks

Fort of Honolulu-John_Colburn-visited Honolulu twice during the voyage-July 8-23, 1837 and May 31-June 10, 1839

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Chamberlain House-(LOC)-1902

Our Lady of Peace Cathedral, Honolulu, 1843

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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Kaahumanu_Church,_South_High_Street,_Wailuku_(Maui_County,_Hawaii)

Auxiliary_Building_behind_Kaahumanu_Church

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

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Cannon_from_the_battle_of_Iao_Valley-Bailey_House_Museum

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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

Palama_Settlement

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)