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Honolulu is the capital and largest city of the US state of Hawaii. The city’s history goes back to Polynesian settlers who came here across the Pacific Ocean and colonized the Hawaiian archipelago. Finds and stories indicate that there was already a settlement in today’s Honolulu in the 11th century, and the city’s historical importance started in 1804, when King Kamehameha I conquered the island of Oahu in the Battle of Nu’uanu.
Kamehameha I first moved the court to Waikiki and from 1809 to downtown Honolulu. However, the city was only the capital until 1812, when Kailua-Kona again became the king’s residence. In 1794, British William Brown had arrived in Honolulu as the first foreigner, and the city quickly became an important transit port between North America and Asia. Honolulu then grew rapidly, and it again became the capital in 1850, when King Kamehameha III moved his residence here from Lahaina on Maui.
Afterwards, Honolulu was developed into a modern metropolis, which, together with the rest of Hawaii, was annexed by the United States in 1898, after the United States had abolished the archipelago’s monarchy in 1893. In the 1900s, Honolulu entered world history when Japan attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1941 and thereby caused the United States to enter the Pacific War. Hawaii became a US state in 1959, and Honolulu’s growth boomed in the following decades due to large immigration and tourism.
The government of American states is done from a capitol building, and the Hawaii State Capitol is the seat of government of Hawaii as the 50th state of the United States. The political system is a bicameral system with the Senate and the House of Representatives as the legislative units. The current capitol was built in the 1960s and inaugurated in 1969 as a replacement for the former royal palace, ʻIolani Palace. It happened under Governor John A. Burns, who in the same project carried out a large-scale renovation of `Iolani Palace, the only royal residence in the United States.
The chosen architecture represents the so-called Hawaiian International Architecture, whose foundation is Western architecture with elements that reflect Hawaiian culture, nature and history. Therefore, the Hawaii State Capitol is not modeled after the United States Capitol in Washington, which is often the case in the United States. Instead, it is Hawaii’s nature that has been a source of inspiration.
There is a reflecting pool around the building, and it symbolizes the Pacific Ocean, which surrounds all of Hawaii’s eight islands. The eight islands themselves are represented in the number of columns on each side of the Hawaii State Capitol, and the columns stand as Hawaii’s royal palms. Inside, the two legislative chambers are designed to be cone-shaped as symbols of the volcanoes that created Hawaii.
Around the building there are a number of interesting monuments. Between the Hawaii State Capitol and ʻIolani Palace stands a statue of Queen Lili’uokalani. At the entrance to the Capitol from Beretania Street, you can see the Liberty Bell, given by the US President and the US Congress in 1950 as a symbol of freedom and democracy.
At Beretania Street, you can also see an eternal flame that burns as a symbol of Hawaiian men and women who have served in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and other services over the years. Finally, you can also see a statue of the priest Father Damien, which stands as a memory of Damien’s 16 years of work for patients with leprosy. Father Damien died in 1869 and was canonized in 2009.
Hawaii was a kingdom before the United States annexed the archipelago, which means that the islands are the only place in the United States where you can see royal palaces and other things related to kings and queens. ʻIolani Palace is one of Honolulu’s best-known buildings, and the palace was the residence of Hawaii’s monarchs from Kamehameha III to Queen Lili-uokalani. ʻIolani Palace served as a royal residence until 1893, when the monarchy was abolished with American help. After that, the beautiful building was set up as the capitol for first the provisional government, then the rule of the Republic of Hawaii and finally for the state of Hawaii until 1969, when the new Hawaii State Capitol was opened.
Following the relocation of the island state’s political bodies to the Hawaii State Capitol in 1969, ʻIolani Palace underwent extensive restoration and the palace was opened as a museum in 1978. been used in the royal residence.
The royal residence’s history began at this location in the 1800s, but earlier there was a Hawaiian temple on the site. In 1844, the royal governor, Mataio Kekūanāoʻa, built a house for his daughter Victoria Kamāmalu, and it became Honolulu’s finest house. King Kamehameha III purchased the site in connection with the relocation of Hawaii’s capital from Lahaina to Honolulu in 1845.
The 1844 building was built as Hale Aliʻi, which means House of the Chiefs in Hawaiian. Hale Aliʻi was then also built as a traditional chieftain’s residence with exclusively ceremonial rooms and halls and no private suites. There was a throne room, an audience hall and a representative dining hall in Hale Aliʻi, while bedrooms and other facilities were arranged in smaller buildings around the house itself. Kamehameha III, for example, slept in a small hut next to Hale Aliʻi.
It was King Kamehameha V who changed Hale Aliʻi’s name to ʻIolani Palace. The name he took from his brother’s name; Kamehameha IV’s full name was Alexander Liholiho Keawenui ʻIolani. The house was used as a royal palace, but eventually it had fallen into disrepair due to termite attacks.
King David Kalākaua ascended the throne of Hawaii in 1874, and he had the former Honolulu residence demolished. David Kalākaua, as the first king, had traveled around the world, and he was inspired by the architecture he had seen in Europe. He therefore had the current ʻIolani Palace built as a royal residence palace that could compare with residences in other kingdoms.
Architects Thomas J. Baker, Charles J. Wall, and Isaac Moore all contributed to the design of the new palace, the cornerstone of which was laid on December 31, 1879. The materials were brick and concrete, and the new ʻIolani Palace was completed in November 1882. The construction cost exceeded 340,000 dollars, and the new palace was considerably larger and more impressive than its predecessor. To mark the new palace, a coronation of King Kalākaua was held in 1883 in European style. This happened despite the fact that he had already ruled since 1874.
ʻIolani Palace was the royal residence palace until the abolition of the monarchy in 1893, and ʻIolani Palace is incidentally just one of two former royal palaces on American soil. The other is Hulihe’e Palace in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii.
King Kamehameha I was a warrior and the one who in 1810 gathered the Hawaiian archipelago as a unified kingdom. It happened after a long time of disputes between different chiefs, and with the peace, Hawaii gradually developed into a flourishing kingdom. The unification of Hawaii as a kingdom also meant that the islands stood strengthened against Western interests compared to having been politically separate entities. Kamehameha I formed the Kingdom of Hawaii and also its first dynasty, and he is remembered by Hawaiians as the greatest and unifying of all the monarchs , who ruled from 1810 to 1893, when the United States abolished the monarchy. In memory of the first king, four famous statues have been erected around Hawaii and the United States, one of which can be seen in downtown Honolulu.
In front of the Aliʻiōlani Hale building stands Kamehameha I, looking over the city with an outstretched arm as a symbol of welcome. The statue was erected in 1883 and is a copy of the first statue that was supposed to come from Europe, but which was shipwrecked around the Falkland Islands in 1882. The missing statue was later found, and it can be seen today on the island of Hawaii in near Kamehameha I’s birthplace. The third statue stands in the city of Hilo, while the fourth can be seen in the US capital, Washington.
The statue in Honolulu was cast in bronze in Florence, Italy. It was the American Thomas Gould who produced the statue, which is celebrated and decorated with flowers every year on June 11 on Kamehameha Day. The background for the statue was a desire in 1878 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival in the Hawaiian Islands.
The Mission Houses Museum is a museum that consists of some houses from Honolulu’s mission era in the 19th century. The museum was established as an institution in 1920 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in Hawaii. The mission period from 1820 to 1863 is depicted through fine exhibitions in original environments at the museum here in central Honolulu. You can see three buildings, which collectively make up the Mission Houses Museum; Oldest Frame House from 1821, Chamberlain House from 1831 and The Print House from 1841. The missions came from New England, and so did some of the mission houses. The oldest Frame House was thus sailed from Boston around Cape Horn to Hawaii to be assembled on the islands. The house was built in the New England style and housed quite a few missionary families.
Named after the missionary Chamberlain family, Chamberlain House was built using coral stone and timber from ships. The interior of the house is different from the Oldest Frame House, which was built to keep snow away, among other things. Chamberlain House was built more to shield from the sun.
The Print House was built to expand the number of rooms in the complex, and later a printing press was installed here, which has given its name to the building. The missionaries and local Hawaiians worked together here producing books and printed materials in the Hawaiian language. Among other things, you can see a replica of the first printing press that came to Hawaii.
This is the largest art museum in the state of Hawaii, and it houses extremely fine collections of art from many parts of the world, with particularly fine collections from Asia, the Pacific, and Europe. The museum opened in 1927, and since then its collections have increased to a volume of over 50,000. The Asian art collection consists of works from mainly Japan and China, while one can experience a number of paintings from the Italian Renaissance among the European works. Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh and Pablo Picasso are some of the many artists represented with works in the museum.
Anna Rice Cooke founded the museum in 1922. Born on Oahu to New England missionary parents, she later married Charles Montague Cooke, with whom she moved to Beretania Street in Honolulu. There, Anna Rice Cooke laid the foundation for today’s museum by continuously buying works for the couple’s private art collection.
The Cookes’ art collection outgrew their home and they began exhibiting the works elsewhere, and later Charles Montague and Anna Rice Cooke donated the land on Beretania Street and the art collection to a new museum built on the site of their house lay. Rice Cooke wanted to create a different art museum, which in its setting worked together with Hawaii’s nature, and therefore, among other things, a number of farm environments were established.
This is the mother church and thus the Catholic episcopal seat of Honolulu. The church was established during the missionary period of Hawaii’s history and was dedicated in 1843 after three years of construction with the name Our Lady of Peace. The Catholic had been kept down for some years in Hawaii, and as a kind of new agreement, King Kamehameha III gave a plot of land on which the congregation could build the kingdom’s first Catholic church. Construction began on 9 July 1840, and it was on the feast day Regina Pacis, which in English is called the Feast of Our Lady of Peace. From there comes the name of the church.
The church building was constructed of coral stone that was collected by locals from the beaches at Ala Moana, Kakaʻako and Waikīkī. Today, the church stands as the oldest preserved building in downtown Honolulu, and there are many beautiful works of art and decoration to be seen in the church space. This applies, for example, to the French marble altar and the church’s fine glass mosaics. Outside the church you can also see a statue of Our Lady of Peace.
There are many famous beaches around the world, and Honolulu’s Waikiki Beach is one of the most famous of them all. Waikiki is a neighborhood east of downtown Honolulu, and it’s the one that gave the beach its name. In Hawaiian, Waikiki means splashing fresh water, and the name refers to creeks and streams that once formed wetlands in this area. Waikiki Beach was already popular with the Hawaiian royal family in the 1800s, where they came here to bathe and surf on early versions of surfboards. From the 1880s the first small accommodations were opened along Waikiki Beach, and in 1901 the first proper hotel was opened; it was the luxurious Moana Hotel that initiated a major influx of tourists to Honolulu and Waikiki.
One of the activities along Waikiki Beach was modern surfing, which the Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku almost invented and spread in Hawaii and all over the world. With Duke’s popularity, Waikiki became a true hotspot for surfing and for surfing tourists. The beachgoers needed sand, and Waikiki had actually experienced severe erosion since the late 1800s. Therefore, sand was transported from Manhattan Beach in California to Waikiki several times in the 1920s and 1930s.
However, erosion continued after the new sand, and sand continued to be imported from Southern California and local beaches, as well as from sandbars close to Oahu. The sand is disappearing due to tides and the effects of the densely populated Waikiki promenade. They are constantly trying to come up with solutions that can keep the sand of Waikiki Beach.
At Waikiki Beach you can see a statue of Duke Kahanamoku, who was a competitive swimmer and surfer. Duke was born in 1890, and in 1893 the family moved to Waikiki, and Duke grew up along the beach, devoting himself here to swimming and developing his surfing, among other things. He started on traditional Hawaiian surfboards made of koa wood with a length of almost 5 meters. As a swimmer, Duke Kahanamoku set several short distance world records in 1911. He then participated in the Olympic Games in 1912, 1920 and 1924. He swam to gold medals in the 100 meters freestyle in 1912 and 1920, while at the distance he achieved silver in 1924; the gold medal went to Johnny Weissmüller, who later became world famous as the film’s Tarzan. Duke also earned a silver and a gold medal in the team relay in 1912 and 1920, respectively.
Between and after the Olympiads, Duke Kahanamoku traveled around giving swimming lessons, and at the same time he spread the knowledge of surfing, which was otherwise only a sport practiced in Hawaii. On Christmas Eve 1924, he gave a surfing demonstration at Freshwater Beach in Sydney, and it was one of the defining events in the popularization of the sport in Australia. There is also a statue of Duke Kahanamoku at Freshwater Beach, and the Freshwater Surf Club still keeps his surfboard from 1924. Similarly, Duke traveled as an ambassador for the sport of surfing in the US and Europe.
The Duke, as Duke Kahanamoku was also called, died in 1968 and his ashes widely scattered over the ocean at Kūhiō Beach in a grand ceremony. In 1990, the city of Honolulu marked the burial site with the Duke Kahanamoku monument. Created by Jan Gordon Fisher, the statue depicts The Duke with outstretched arms holding his surfboard and Hawaiian spear.
The Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii is also known as Mauna ‘Ala in Hawaiian. It is the burial place of the two royal families and dynasties; Kamehameha and Kalākaua. On the site there is a neo-Gothic style chapel, which was built from 1863, and around it many of Hawaii’s rulers are buried.
As the area of the mausoleum is 11,000 m2 in area and it was designed by the architect Theodore Heuck. It was King Kamehameha IV and his Queen Emma who planned and established the site as the final resting place of their lineage. The first to be buried was the regent’s son Albert, who died at the age of just 4 in 1862. The following year, King Kamehameha died, who was also buried here, and King Kamehameha V, as his successor on the throne, started the construction of the site’s chapel .
Other and former monarchs were reburied on Mauna ‘Ala in 1865, finding the site suitable for royal burials, and by moving the tombs of former regents, a proper royal mausoleum could be created. Previously, some were buried in the Pohukaina crypt at ʻIolani Palace. The only two kings not buried at the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii are King Kamehameha I and King Lunalilo.
Lunalilo’s mortal remains lie at Kawaiaha’o Church in Honolulu, while Kamehameha I was traditionally buried in a secret location following the kōlekele custom, which preserves the person’s power, mana. Besides the two kings, Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena and Queen Keōpūolani are buried elsewhere than here; they are located at Waiola Church on the island of Maui.
The importance of the Royal Mausoleum of Hawaii and the former monarchs to the Hawaiians is emphasized by the fact that the mausoleum is one of only three places on the archipelago where the Hawaiian flag is allowed to fly alone and thus without the American flag. The other two sites are the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu and the Puʻukoholā Heiau temple ruins on the island of Hawai’i.
The Bishop Museum is a cultural flagship in the depiction of Hawaiian and Polynesian cultures and natural history. It is a museum with fine collections of art objects, pictures, documents and much more depicting the area and its people. There are also a number of different areas and activities in the museum, such as the planetarium, where you can learn about Polynesian navigation by the stars, and the Science Adventure Center, where you can get close to Hawaii’s nature through interactive exhibitions.
Founded in 1889, the museum was established by philanthropist and businessman Charles Reed Bishop in memory of his late wife, Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop. Princess Bernice was the last heir in the Kamehameha dynasty, which ruled Hawaii in the years 1810-1872, and Charles Reed Bishop wanted to be able to exhibit his wife’s royal heirlooms with the museum.
When visiting the museum, you can see the beautiful Hawaiian Hall, which depicts Hawaii in many ways. One floor is dedicated to Hawaii’s gods, legends, beliefs and the original Hawaii before the contact of Europeans and later Americans. A second floor depicts the surroundings where people live and work, and the focus is the importance of the country and nature in daily life. The hall’s third floors are decorated with the highlights of Hawaiian history.
In the Pacific Hall, you can take a closer look at cultures around the Polynesian area. The origins and migration of peoples are reviewed, just as languages, traditions and archaeological finds are shown and reviewed. The exhibits in the Pacific Hall thereby show how Oceania’s population is diverse, yet closely linked.
In the Picture Gallery in the museum, you can see a particularly fine collection of Hawaiian art from the 1800s. You can see watercolours, oil paintings, books, various effects and much more. In the Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kāhili Room, you can see portraits of the Hawaiian rulers, and some of their possessions are also on display.
It is not only in the halls of the museum that you get close to Hawaii and Hawaiian history. In the garden surrounding the museum, you can go to the Nā Ulu Kaiwi‘ula Native Hawaiian Garden, where you can see plants that have been important to Hawaiian culture. Here there are both endemic plants and plants that Polynesian people brought to the Hawaiian Islands when they sailed here.
At the royal palace ʻIolani Palace you can see a small castle-like building called Hale Koa or ʻIolani Barracks. The building was completed in 1871 as barracks for the Royal Hawaiian Guard, and here there were living quarters, mess and other facilities for maintaining the life of about 80 soldiers at the barracks.
ʻIolani Barracks was originally built on the site where the Hawaii State Capitol is located today. In connection with Hawaii’s admission to the United States as the 50th state, the government buildings were to be expanded and the current Hawaii State Capitol was to be built. In 1965, ʻIolani Barracks was taken down and rebuilt on the site, you can see the fine construction today, where the former barracks serves as a visitor center for ʻIolani Palace.
In the area around the royal residence, ʻIolani Palace, you can see the former royal music pavilion. Today it bears the name ʻIolani Bandstand, but previously it was known as Kroningspavillonen/Coronation Pavilion. The elegant pavilion was built in 1883 for the coronation of King Kalākaua. Kalākaua had already become king in 1874, but in connection with the completion of the impressive royal palace, ʻIolani Palace, a large ceremony was held in the new pavilion.
The ʻIolani Bandstand originally stood in a different location at ʻIolani Palace than today, but it has since been moved. Now the pavilion stands as a beautiful structure in the park around the former royal palace, and it is used by the Royal Hawaiian Band, which was established as a military band in 1836. Today, the Royal Hawaiian Band is one of the USA’s well-known and traditional orchestras, and you can usually see them play at the ʻIolani Bandstand on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m.
The Aliʻiōlani Hale building is home to the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii; Hawaii State Supreme Court. The name of the building is Hawaiian and means “house of the heavenly kings”, and it alludes to the original purpose of the construction.
Aliʻiōlani Hale was built 1872-8174 in Italian Neo-Renaissance to designs by the Australian Thomas Rowe. It was intended as King Kamehameha V’s new residence palace, but the king himself changed its purpose to be the seat of the kingdom’s government instead of being a royal palace. Kamehameha V decided on the change, as the country’s government offices were too small and scattered at the time. Kamehameha V laid the foundation stone for the building on February 19, 1872, and successor David Kalākaua inaugurated the new seat of government in 1874.
Historically, Aliʻiōlani Hale later entered the history books as it was here that the so-called Committee of Safety publicly overthrew Queen Lili’uokalani in 1893. The Committee of Safety was a group of non-Hawaiians who wanted American annexation of Hawaii and who opposed the Hawaiian kingdom.
The Committee of Safety had Hawaii’s status changed from a kingdom to a republic in 1894, and after that event the Hawaiian Legislature was moved from Aliʻiōlani Hale to ʻIolani Palace, which had been the residence of the Hawaiian monarchs. In Aliʻiōlani Hale, the state’s legal offices were located, and thereby the foundation for today’s Supreme Court was established.
The original layout of the building was like a palace, and thus the rooms and halls were not optimal for the courthouse, which grew in workloads with the American annexation, which was finally completed in the year 1900. This was solved by giving the construction a completely new layout, which happened in 1911.
Aliʻiōlani Hale was expanded due to lack of space in the 1940s into today’s beautiful building. You can enjoy the architecture from the outside and see the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center exhibit, which depicts Hawaii’s legal history and most important legal cases through time.
This is one of Honolulu’s well-known office buildings from the earlier 20th century. The Territorial Office Building was built in 1925-1926 to local architect Arthur Reynolds’ design. The building was opened as the seat of one of Hawaii’s highest offices; Attorney General of Hawaii.
Reynolds’ architectural style on the Territorial Office Building is imposing and emphasizes the building’s status as the seat of an important American authority. There are elements of both classicism, beaux-arts and art deco in the building, and among the beautiful decorations is the central lobby with a stained glass mosaic of the coat of arms of Hawaii.
The Kawaiaha’o Church is one of Honolulu’s beautiful old buildings from the mission era. It was built in the years 1836-1842 in the style that characterized the New England missions in Hawaii. The building material consisted of several thousand coral stones that came from a reef off the coast south of Oahu. Hawaiian divers swam several meters underwater and carved out the stone blocks before they could be transported up to the construction site.
Kawaiaha’o Church belongs to the Protestant United Church of Christ, and at the time of its construction, the city’s main Catholic church was also built. There was thus a kind of rivalry, but the importance of Kawaiaha’o Church was emphasized by the fact that it was the main part of the church of the Hawaiian kings before King Kamehameha IV and his wife Emma transferred to the Anglican Church. In Kawaiaha’o Church there are portraits of many rulers, and King Lunalilo also chose to be buried in the church instead of in the royal mausoleum located elsewhere in Honolulu.
The church is still used as the church, and it stands as a beautiful example of the 19th century mission style in Hawaii. Behind the clean exterior you can experience a simple and bright church room, where columns support the upper galleries. If you want to see King Lulalilo’s tomb, it is an independent mausoleum outside the church.
Honolulu Hale is the city hall of the city of Honolulu and the seat of the city government and of the mayor’s offices. This has not always been the case, because in the past Honolulu was led by a government through the so-called Board of Supervisors, and they held meetings at various addresses in the city. In 1907, the City & County of Honolulu was formed and board member Fern became the first mayor. One of Fern’s plans was the establishment of a town hall, and successor John H. Wilson realized the project.
Honolulu Hale means Honolulu’s House in Hawaiian, and the City Hall building was completed in 1928 to be opened the following year. Many of the leading architects of the time were involved in the project, and the architecture became the popular neo-colonial Italian-Spanish style of the day. The inner courtyard and other elements were inspired by the Bargello in Italian Florence.
Hawaii State Library: This is the state of Hawaii’s national library and thus the archipelago’s most important library. Construction was completed 1911-1913 to designs by Henry D. Whitfield, and Andrew Carnegie financed the project. The new library replaced The Honolulu Library and Reading Room Association, which had held the role of leading library since 1879. In 1921, the County Library Law was passed, and with it new libraries were established on the islands of Kauai, Maui and Hawaii.
Washington Place is one of Honolulu’s beautiful 19th century residences. The mansion was built by merchant marine captain John Dominis, who had come to America from Trieste in 1819. In 1837, he came with his wife and child to Hawaii, and five years later, the family got a plot of land as a result of a lawsuit. John Dominis sailed on to earn money to build a house, but he died in a shipwreck in 1846. However, the house was completed the following year with the widow Mary Dominis as owner.
Mary Dominis rented out parts of the new mansion, and one of the first tenants was Anthony Ten Eyck, who had been sent to Hawaii by the President of the United States, James K. Polk. It was Ten Eyck who called the mansion Washington Place in a letter dated February 22, 1848, in honor of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. February 22 was Washington’s birthday, and the house’s new name was approved by Hawaii’s King Kamehameha III.
Mary Dominis was originally from Boston, and every day until her death in 1889, the American flag was raised over the mansion. After this, Princess Lili’uokalani had it removed. In 1862, Lili’uokalani had married John Owen Dominis, who was the son of John and Mary Dominis. After the wedding, Washington Place became the official residence of Hawaii’s heir to the throne and future queen.
John Owen Dominis passed away in 1891, after which Lili’uokalani took over the mansion. It was also where the Queen was arrested when Americans overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and turned the archipelago into a republic that could be annexed by the United States. The arrest was made in 1893 with the help of US Marines, and after being imprisoned in ʻIolani Palace, she was placed under house arrest in Washington Place, where she lived until her death in 1917.
In 1921, the administration of Hawaii’s governor purchased Washington Place from the estate of Queen Lili’uokalani. The purchase price was US$55,000, and Governor Wallace Rider Farrington had it remodeled in 1922. Farrington was the first of 12 US governors to live here until the mansion was converted into a historical museum in 2002. It continues to function as a museum, where tours by order.
Hawaii State Art Museum: At the Hawaii State Art Museum you can see a permanent exhibition of Hawaiian art as well as various changing exhibitions. The local artwork on display represents a wide variety of artists and a mix of Hawaii’s ethnic and cultural diversity. In connection with the museum, you can also experience a sculpture garden, which is located around the complex’s former oasis with a swimming pool as its centre.
The museum is housed in building No. 1 Capitol District Building, and before that, Hawaii’s first hotel was located on this site. The hotel was The Hawaiian Hotel, which opened its doors in 1872. The hotel was built of wood and attacked by termites. It was demolished in 1926 and made way for No. 1 Capitol District Building, completed in 1928. After having a number of different owners, the State of Hawaii purchased the building in 2000.
Hawaii’s King Kamehameha IV lived 1834-1863 and ruled the archipelago from 1855 until his death. The king and Queen Emma were good friends with the English Queen Victoria, and this led to the royal couple switching to using the Church of England as their Christian church. Thomas Nettleship Staley was appointed as the first Anglican bishop in Hawaii in 1862, and at the same time King Kamehameha IV initiated the construction of an Anglican cathedral.
Kamehameha IV died in 1863 on Saint Andrew’s Day before the first sod was put in the ground for the new church. However, the construction was realized and the foundation stone of the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew was laid on 5 March 1867. It was London architects William Slater and Richard Herbert Carpenter who designed the church, which was built in the French-Gothic style using prefabricated elements from England.
The church is quite worth seeing with a very European appearance both externally and internally. One of the building’s attractions is the fine and large stained-glass window that shows the visits of European explorers to the Hawaiian Islands.
The street Fort Street is one of Honolulu’s main streets and therefore a well-visited place for both locals and tourists. The name Fort Street comes from Honolulu’s old fort, which was built in 1816 by Russians who wanted to establish themselves in Hawaii for a strategic interest in the kingdom.
The Russians had come to Hawaii as fur traders in the early 19th century, where they traded furs for various meat, fruit and other foodstuffs. King Kamehameha I gave the Russians a piece of land to settle on, and they started building a fort. Kamehameha removed the Russians when he discovered their enterprise. The Russians opened a dialogue with Kauai’s king Kaumualii that he could become king of the entire archipelago. Kaumualii then built five forts on Kauai, but the Russian plan was never realized.
King Kamehameha I’s advisor and governor, John Adams Kuakini, expanded the Russian fort, making it the largest building complex in the archipelago. The fort was built in coral stone which was cut from a nearby reef. The fort was located around the intersection of the current Fort Street Mall and Queen Street, and was built to defend Honolulu’s harbor. Today, Walker Park is located on this site.
The fort was the seat and residence of the governor of Oahu, and there were barracks on the site. Furthermore, there were a number of official offices and authorities that operated from here, and thus the fort was a kind of administrative center for Honolulu, Oahu and Hawaii for part of the 1800s. In the middle of the 19th century, it was found that the fort’s military role had been exhausted, and it was demolished in 1857.
In 1881, Fort Street became the first street in Honolulu to be paved, and over the years several important buildings were erected along the street. The Catholic church, Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (1183 Fort Street), was built in 1842, and in 1859 the Queen’s Hospital was built with 18 beds at the time; it was later moved to another address. It was also in Fort Street that most of the banks were located, and here there were also shops such as Woolworths.
On a walk in the street you can see several interesting buildings. Sacred Hearts Convent School (1159 Fort Street) was important as a place of education in the 1800s and 1900s; the current building dates from 1901. You can also see C. Brewer & Co. Building (827 Fort Street) from the 1920s, which almost looks like a private house, but which was the seat of the trading firm C. Brewer & Co. The building is typical of the period in the so-called territorial style, which mixes elements from the Spanish colonial period, Moorish architecture and Mediterranean buildings together.
The Hawaii Theater is a beautiful theater that was opened by the Consolidated Amusement Company in 1922. At the time, local newspapers described the place as “The Pride of the Pacific” and compared it to the finest theaters in San Francisco and the rest of the United States.
It was the architects Walter Emory and Marshall Webb of Honolulu who designed the building in a neoclassical exterior with ornamentation with features of Byzantine, Corinthian and Moorish architecture. Behind the elegant exterior, theatergoers were greeted by a refined Beaux-Arts interior. On stage and screen, it was vaudeville and silent films in the theater’s first years.
After a gradual exodus of the entertainment industry from downtown Honolulu, the Consolidated Amusement Company decided not to continue the theater, which closed in 1984. A group wanting to preserve the theater purchased the building in 1986, and after an interior renovation, the Hawaii Theater reopened in 1996 Today you can still enjoy the beautiful theater.
In central Honolulu, you can visit the city’s Chinatown, which was traditionally home to the Chinese-American population. The Chinese came to Hawaii in the 19th century, where they were imported to the archipelago to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations. The Chinese worked on contracts and when they expired, many Chinese settled in this area as traders. However, it was not only Chinese who lived here, but in the 1900 census they made up 56% of Chinatown’s inhabitants.
Part of Chinatown arose in the 1800s, but a fire in 1900 destroyed most of the neighborhood. The fire had started as a controlled destruction of some properties due to bubonic plague infection, but it got out of control after a change in weather. Due to the fire, there are today many buildings that were built in 1900 and 1901.
Chinatown developed rapidly in the first half of the 20th century, but the neighborhood also gained a reputation for being a red light district in the years after World War II. Several mayors later implemented programs to revitalize the neighborhood, where today there is a nice atmosphere among the relatively low-rise buildings.
You can clearly see when you are in Chinatown. Here the signs are different than outside Chinatown; the street names are in both English and Chinese. There are also buildings in an adapted Chinese style and of course a Chinese touch on commercial life. You can take a walk in Sun Yat-Sen Park (South Hotel Street, Bethel Street), which was established in 2007 to commemorate Sun Yat-Sen’s visit to Chinatown in 1879.
Merchant Street was the first place in Honolulu to develop into a commercial center, and as a result, a number of interesting buildings were erected here over time. Today, high-rise buildings elsewhere in the city have taken over Merchant Street’s historic role, but the 1800s and early 1900s environment is preserved through several houses from this era. The intersection between Merchant Street and Bethel Street is a good place to start, as there are old buildings on every street corner.
The Melchers Building (51 Merchant Street) is the street’s oldest building. The house was built in 1854 from coral stone, which, however, can no longer be seen under some recent facade treatments. The building was built as offices for the trading company Melchers and Reiner.
Opposite the Melchers Building is the 1871 Kamehameha V Post Office (46 Merchant Street). It was the city’s first construction to use precast reinforced concrete. The house served as a post office until 1922, and it was named after King Kamehameha V, who built many public offices throughout his reign. Today, the Kumu Kahua Theater is housed in the beautiful building.
On the third street corner is the Yokohama Specie Bank (36 Merchant Street), which was established as a banking agent for Imperial Japan. The Honolulu branch was built in 1909 to designs by architect Henry Livingston Kerr. Today there is, among other things, a kindergarten in the old bank building.
Opposite the former Yokohama Specie Bank can be seen the Honolulu Police Station (842 Bethel Street), built in 1931 in a Spanish Mission style. Among other things, marble from France and mahogany from the Philippines were used for the construction. The house was a police station until 1967.
The Honolulu Police Station occupies the entire block along Merchant Street to Nu’uanu Avenue, and immediately across from the building’s north end is the low-rise Royal Saloon Building from 1890. The building was built as a saloon, and it continues to be so.
Heading south along Merchant Street from the junction of Merchant Street and Bethel Street are several other old buildings. On the west side of the street, the Bishop Bank Building (63 Merchant Street) from 1878 and the Bishop Estate Building (77 Merchant Street) from 1896 are next to each other. On the next street corner, where Merchant Street crosses Fort Street, is the slightly larger Judd Building from 1898.
The Aloha Tower is one of Honolulu’s most distinctive and well-known buildings. The tower stands on the city’s waterfront and has been a landmark in the city since its construction in 1926. The tower is 68 meters high, and at the time of its opening and for several decades, the Aloha Tower was the tallest building in Hawaii. On the 10th floor, there are viewing platforms where you have an excellent view of downtown Honolulu, the city’s harbor, Waikiki Beach and Honolulu’s surroundings.
This is one of Hawaii and Waikiki’s famous old hotels. The hotel’s Spanish-Moorish inspired architecture, its pink colors and the place’s luxurious decor have earned it the nickname The Pink Palace of the Pacific. It is a place you should visit on a trip along Waikiki, and many celebrities have also set up shop here since the hotel opened in 1927.
The first guest to stay at the hotel was Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, who, after the death of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole in 1922, became the leader of the Hawaiian people and considered by many to be heir to the throne in a re-creation of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Another famous guest who frequented the hotel and its surroundings was Duke Kahanamoku, who was also called The Duke and The Big Kahuna. The Duke was a swimmer and surfer and won, among other things, Olympic gold in Stockholm in 1912 and silver after Johnny Weissmüller at the Olympics in Paris in 1924. The Duke was also known as the father of modern surfing. A third guest was the US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Moana Hotel opened in 1901 as the first hotel along Waikiki Beach, and thus the place has a special status that, together with the hotel’s beautiful architecture, makes the building a special experience. It was the landowner Walter Chamberlain Peacock who established The Moana Hotel Company in 1896 with the aim of developing the until then overlooked Waikiki. The opening of the hotel was also the starting point for actual tourism to Waikiki, which was otherwise just built up with beach houses and bungalows.
Architecturally, Moana Hotel’s inspiration came from Europe, and the decor was classy by the standards of the time. The Peacock installed electric elevators as the first place in Hawaii, and several of the 75 rooms had both telephones and bathrooms. There was also a billiards room, salons and a library for guests who were surrounded by the luxury of Honolulu’s beachfront.
Over the years, Moana Hotel was both expanded and remodeled. The neighboring Surfrider hotel was also built in 1952 with an extension in 1969, and all three of these are today combined into one hotel complex. The Moana Hotel itself was restored in 1989 to the style and design from 1901, and it is thereby like a hotel from Honolulu’s first years as an American tourist town. From this time, you can also see the hotel’s large banyan tree, which was planted in 1904.
Along Waikiki Beach at the Kūhiō Beach Park area, you can see the so-called Stones of Kapaemahu, which are four large stones. They represent the four legends Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi who are said to have come to Hawaii from the island of Raiatea around the year 400. The stones are said to contain the spiritual essence, mana, of the four men who were said to be healers who healed the people on the archipelago. They toured the islands, and when they were going back to Raiatea, they asked to be placed two stones for their dwelling and two for their bathing place; then they gave their names and mana to the stones before taking their leave.
King’s Village is a shopping center in Honolulu, and as such it is like many others. The special thing about King’s Village is that it is built in a style so that it represents an imagined cityscape of Honolulu around the year 1900. The cobblestones and old-style facades form the framework for the many shops in the centre.
Kūhiō Beach Park is part of the long beach area collectively known as Waikiki Beach. The name Kūhiō comes from Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole, who was the youngest son of Princess Kekaulike Kinoiki II. Kūhiō was a prince and lived right here with his wife, Princess Elizabeth Kahanu. In 1918, the prince opened part of the plot of land as a public beach, and in 1922 the entire Kūhiō property became the property of the city; in 1940 the site opened as the current park.
In Kūhiō Beach Park there are several famous monuments. In the center you can see a statue of Prince Kūhiō, who was also known as a prince of the people because he did a lot to strengthen the Hawaiian people. The statue was produced by sculptor Sean Browne and erected in 2002.
In the green area, Queen Kapiʻolani Park, you can visit the Honolulu Zoo. The garden’s history dates back to 1876, when King Kalākaua laid out a large area of his land for a public park. The following year, the park was opened and named after Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapiʻolani. After the opening, King Kalākaua still used the area for his collection of exotic animals. Over the years, more and more animals came, and it developed into today’s zoo, which is home to over 1,200 animals.
This museum is an art museum that is part of the Honolulu Museum of Art, whose main branch is located at 900 Beretania Street. Spalding House became part of the museum in 2011, and it focuses on contemporary art. You can see quite an extensive collection with countless well-known artists represented.
The museum building is called Spalding House, and it was built in 1925-1926 as a private residence by Anna Rice Cooke, who had founded the Honolulu Museum of Art a few years before. Cooke’s daughter, Alice Spalding, later acquired the house, which she bequeathed to the Honolulu Museum of Art, which acquired the site in 1968. In 1986, other owners turned the house into the Comtemporary Museum.
The Hawaiian archipelago was created and is still being created by volcanic eruptions, and you can see that very close to downtown Honolulu, where there are several old volcanoes. Punchbowl Crater is one of these extinct volcanic craters, which was formed during volcanic activity between 30,000 and 800,000 years ago. Punchbowl itself is believed to have formed 75,000-100,000 years ago.
Punchbowl Crater was formerly used by the Hawaiian people for various ceremonies. There was an altar here, which was used, among other things, for human sacrifices to the gods, which occurred in connection with violations of taboos in the Hawaiian faith.
During the reign of King Kamehameha I, cannons were erected on the rim of the crater and used to salute at special events. Later in the 19th century, there was a proposal to use the crater as a cemetery, but that idea was not adopted. In the first half of the 20th century, the Hawaiian National Guard used Punchbowl Crater as a shooting range, and a few years later the idea of a burial ground was revived; this time as a national military cemetery. Work on its construction began in 1948, which is why today you can see the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in the old crater.
The cemetery was established as a monument to those who have served in the United States Army, and of course to those who fell during their service. Over 50,000 people are buried here; they fell during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. From the opening in 1949, the United States also moved fallen soldiers from Guam and Wake Island, among others, here to rebury them. Since its opening, however, others have also been buried, and among them were William F. Quinn and John A. Burns, who were governors of Hawaii.
Queen Emma was the wife of King Kamehameha IV, and she used this house as a summer palace in the years 1857-1885. It was not only the queen who used the house; both Kamehameha IV and the couple’s son, Prince Albert Edward, were in attendance.
Queen Emma Summer Palace is located in the Nu’uanu Valley area, which over time has been a popular place for chiefs, royalty and others who have enjoyed the climate there. The climate is a little cooler than downtown Honolulu, so it’s been a good area to retreat to in the summer.
The house was largely built in Boston and sailed around Cape Horn to Oahu, where it was assembled in 1848 with six rooms, a porch and Doric columns. Two years later, Keoni Ana bought the building for $6,000 and he owned the place for seven years before giving it to his niece; Queen Emma. Emma later built The Edinburgh Room for the house as part of preparations for a visit by the then Duke of Edinburgh.
Queen Emma died in 1889 and the Kingdom of Hawaii then bought the property. The island’s American governor turned the site into a park in 1911. Later, the Daughters of Hawaii organization acquired the summer palace to preserve this part of the Kingdom of Hawaii’s history for posterity, and they set up a museum in the fine building.
At the museum you can see the rooms of the summer palace; Entrance Hall, Front Bedroom, Parlor, Cloak Room, Back Bedroom and Center Hall from the original building and the Edinburgh Room from 1869. Also on display are 19th century fixtures and possessions that belonged to Queen Emma, King Kamehameha IV, Prince Albert Edward and others from Hawaii’s royal families. Among the effects are porcelain, which was given as a gift by British Queen Victoria, and a number of interesting portrait paintings.
This modern church building is one of Honolulu and Hawaii’s most important Catholic churches. The parish here was established in 1931, and a wooden church was completed the following year. However, the church became both too small and needed renovation after a few decades, and the current church was built as a replacement and inaugurated in 1963.
The Catholic mother church in the city, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, had gradually also become too small for major church events, and therefore the Pope gave Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus the status of co-cathedral in 1985.
Diamond Head is the remains of a volcanic cone that formed during previous eruptions from the Ko’olau volcano. It happened during the series of eruptions during the so-called Honolulu Volcanic Series, which shaped many of the island of Oahu’s well-known natural landmarks such as Punchbowl Crater and Diamond Head. Diamond Head has a height of 232 meters and the formation is estimated to be 400,000-500,000 years old.
Diamond Head is very visible from Honolulu and not least from Waikiki, where the ridge is at the end of the beaches and bay that form Waikiki. Diamond Head has been used by, among others, the US military over time, and there has therefore been limited access to the site.
Today, Diamond Head is a state park with access to a nice hike. The Diamond Head Summit Trail leads from the crater floor to an unparalleled view from the summit. The route there and back is approximately three kilometers long, and from the beginning you climb 171 meters before you are at the top of Diamond Head. The way into the craters is via the Kahala Tunnel from the east side of Diamond Head. To the south along Diamond Head Road lies the Pacific Ocean, and here you can also see the Diamond Head Lighthouse from 1917.
Pearl Harbor is a natural harbor in the area west of Honolulu. Its name comes from the Hawaiian Wai Momi, meaning pearl water, which later became Pearl River and Pearl Harbor. According to Hawaiian mythology, the water is home to the shark goddess Ka’ahupahau and Kahi’uka, who was related to the goddess.
Years ago, the lagoon that forms the natural harbor of Pearl Harbor was not navigable. It was Ewa chief Keaunui who made it possible during his reign before the unification of the Hawaiian archipelago. He then had a navigable channel established around the current salt works at Pu’uloa.
With the whaling of the 19th century and generally increasing trade in the Pacific, the United States became increasingly interested in Hawaii, and in the last half of the century this interest also became of a military nature in order to have a strategically well-located place for a naval base that could partly be active in The Pacific area and partly could protect the American west coast from the water side. US interest was manifested by an official agent in Honolulu harbor in 1820 and the many missionaries who went to the archipelago in the decades that followed. Throughout the 1820s and 1830s, an increasing number of American warships visited Honolulu, often carrying letters of foreign policy recommendations from the United States government. This move was seen by the British minister for Hawaii as a step that could lead to American annexation of the archipelago, which also happened at the end of the 19th century.
The United States used Hawaii’s economic dependence on sugar exports to negotiate an agreement with the Kingdom of Hawaii for better access to the American market, and that agreement led to the United States being able to establish a naval presence in 1887 through the acquisition of the Pearl Harbor area. Formally it was not a naval base, but in reality it was a base that was built in the natural harbour. The Hawaiian Kingdom fell with American help, and the United States annexed Hawaii and established an actual naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1899.
The American base became world famous in the worst way on December 7, 1941, when Imperial Japan attacked the naval base, thereby bringing the United States actively into World War II. The Japanese attack came as a surprise and left the naval base destroyed with heavy casualties. The United States, together with the other allies, won the war, and Pearl Harbor was later rebuilt as a base, and together with the US naval base in San Diego, Pearl Harbor is home to the US Pacific Fleet.
Today, you can visit parts of Pearl Harbor that are a visitor center and memorial to the events that unfolded on December 7, 1941. The actual attack on Pearl Harbor began at 7:55 in the morning. 443 aircraft, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 9 destroyers and 2 tankers were under the command of Admiral Nagumo, who attacked the Americans who were not prepared for the attack. The American ammunition was locked up and the torpedo net had not been laid. At the same time, the American planes were on the ground, and the anti-aircraft batteries were not manned. The attack lasted until 9:45 a.m. and was carried out in several waves. The first wave of the Japanese attack went to destroy Pearl Harbor’s airport and the American battleships, and the next wave destroyed the naval base’s other warships and the local shipyard. A third wave of attacks targeting the US fuel depots was called off, saving the US from transporting colossal amounts of fuel later in the war.
By the time the attack was over, the Japanese had sunk four battleships and damaged four other battleships. The Americans had also lost three light cruisers, three destroyers and three smaller vessels. Added to this were 188 destroyed aircraft, 159 damaged aircraft and heavy loss of life. A total of 2,341 soldiers and 68 civilians were killed, and a further 1,177 were injured. The largest single loss was the Japanese bombing of the battleship USS Arizona, which was hit by a 1,760 pound bomb. In this connection, 1,104 men died. The Japanese lost 29 aircraft and 5 mini-submarines during the attack.
The background to the attack on Pearl Harbor started in 1868, when there was a profound shift in the Japanese political structure. It was the so-called Meiji Restoration, in which Japan transitioned from a feudal social structure to the forerunner of modern Japanese society. The new era heralded economic, political and territorial expansion, where Japan through the end of the 19th century and up to World War II went to war against neighboring countries and conquered land areas in China, Korea and Russia, among others. In 1940, Japan joined the alliance between Italy and Germany, and after acceptance by the Vichy French regime, Japan invaded French Indochina, which led the United States to impose sanctions against Japan on, among other things, oil exports in 1941.
The Japanese were dependent on oil imports, and the US had been by far the largest exporter to Japan, thus US sanctions were harsh on the Japanese military and the country’s expansionist policy. Japan chose the war against the US and its allies over the loss of prestige that a withdrawal would bring. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in the belief that they could force the US to withdraw its fleet to the North American Pacific coast, and that Japan could thereby secure strategic maneuvering space and oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies. Isoroku Yamamoto was commander in chief of the Japanese navy, and he was realistic enough to believe that the attack would only give Japan a kind of respite in the war. Throughout 1941, Japan trained for the attack, which thus started in December of the same year, and which brought the USA into World War II.
Pearl Harbor was a landmark in American history, as the attack was the first time since 1812 that the United States was attacked on its own soil by a foreign power; in 1812 it was during the British-American War. The United States was not prepared for the attack, where sailors were awakened by bombs and where Commander Captain Logan Ramsey uttered the later famous words: “Air raid Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill.”
Today, the visitor site at the events of Pearl Harbor is called “WWII Valor in the Pacific National Monument”, and it has the status of a national American monument. On site there are various things to see and experience; the attack on Pearl Harbor and the USA’s subsequent involvement in World War II are thus depicted. There is a special focus on the Pacific War, and at the site you can also see preserved effects from the attack itself. In the center is the sunken battleship USS Arizona, which lies on the bottom of the harbor as The USS Arizona Memorial. The ship stands as a monument to the attack and to the 1,177 who died on this particular battleship when it was hit by Japanese attacks.
After entering the site, one can visit different parts of the monument. There are separate buildings which detail the pre-history of the war, which for the US started with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and which depict the attack itself. There is also a cinema with different screenings, and from the area by the cinema you sail to the sunken USS Arizona. You can also see the USS Bowfin Submarine Museum and get on board the submarine USS Bowfin, which is anchored as a museum ship. From 1943, USS Bowfin participated in the Pacific War during World War II, and the ship’s crews sunk and damaged a significant number of enemy ships before the war ended in 1945.
Close to the USS Arizona, you can also see the battleship USS Missouri, which served the US Navy on several occasions from 1944 to 1992. The Missouri is an Iowa-class battleship, and it was laid up after the end of the Cold War. The USS Missouri made world history in 1945, when it was here on the ship that Imperial Japan signed the final surrender in World War II. The ship is today a museum ship on the so-called Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor. You can visit the USS Arizona along with the other monuments in Pearl Harbor or simply choose to see the battleship. There is a shuttle bus from Valor of the Pacific to the ship.
Honolulu
Overview of Honolulu
Honolulu is the capital and largest city of the US state of Hawaii. The city’s history goes back to Polynesian settlers who came here across the Pacific Ocean and colonized the Hawaiian archipelago. Finds and stories indicate that there was already a settlement in today’s Honolulu in the 11th century, and the city’s historical importance started in 1804, when King Kamehameha I conquered the island of Oahu in the Battle of Nu’uanu.
Kamehameha I first moved the court to Waikiki and from 1809 to downtown Honolulu. However, the city was only the capital until 1812, when Kailua-Kona again became the king’s residence. In 1794, British William Brown had arrived in Honolulu as the first foreigner, and the city quickly became an important transit port between North America and Asia. Honolulu then grew rapidly, and it again became the capital in 1850, when King Kamehameha III moved his residence here from Lahaina on Maui.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
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Language: English
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At the royal palace ʻIolani Palace you can see a small castle-like building called Hale Koa or ʻIolani Barracks. The building was completed in 1871 as barracks for the Royal Hawaiian Guard, and here there were living quarters, mess and other facilities for maintaining the life of about 80 soldiers at the barracks.
ʻIolani Barracks was originally built on the site where the Hawaii State Capitol is located today. In connection with Hawaii’s admission to the United States as the 50th state, the government buildings were to be expanded and the current Hawaii State Capitol was to be built. In 1965, ʻIolani Barracks was taken down and rebuilt on the site, you can see the fine construction today, where the former barracks serves as a visitor center for ʻIolani Palace.
In the area around the royal residence, ʻIolani Palace, you can see the former royal music pavilion. Today it bears the name ʻIolani Bandstand, but previously it was known as Kroningspavillonen/Coronation Pavilion. The elegant pavilion was built in 1883 for the coronation of King Kalākaua. Kalākaua had already become king in 1874, but in connection with the completion of the impressive royal palace, ʻIolani Palace, a large ceremony was held in the new pavilion.
The ʻIolani Bandstand originally stood in a different location at ʻIolani Palace than today, but it has since been moved. Now the pavilion stands as a beautiful structure in the park around the former royal palace, and it is used by the Royal Hawaiian Band, which was established as a military band in 1836. Today, the Royal Hawaiian Band is one of the USA’s well-known and traditional orchestras, and you can usually see them play at the ʻIolani Bandstand on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m.
The Aliʻiōlani Hale building is home to the Supreme Court of the State of Hawaii; Hawaii State Supreme Court. The name of the building is Hawaiian and means “house of the heavenly kings”, and it alludes to the original purpose of the construction.
Aliʻiōlani Hale was built 1872-8174 in Italian Neo-Renaissance to designs by the Australian Thomas Rowe. It was intended as King Kamehameha V’s new residence palace, but the king himself changed its purpose to be the seat of the kingdom’s government instead of being a royal palace. Kamehameha V decided on the change, as the country’s government offices were too small and scattered at the time. Kamehameha V laid the foundation stone for the building on February 19, 1872, and successor David Kalākaua inaugurated the new seat of government in 1874.
Historically, Aliʻiōlani Hale later entered the history books as it was here that the so-called Committee of Safety publicly overthrew Queen Lili’uokalani in 1893. The Committee of Safety was a group of non-Hawaiians who wanted American annexation of Hawaii and who opposed the Hawaiian kingdom.
The Committee of Safety had Hawaii’s status changed from a kingdom to a republic in 1894, and after that event the Hawaiian Legislature was moved from Aliʻiōlani Hale to ʻIolani Palace, which had been the residence of the Hawaiian monarchs. In Aliʻiōlani Hale, the state’s legal offices were located, and thereby the foundation for today’s Supreme Court was established.
The original layout of the building was like a palace, and thus the rooms and halls were not optimal for the courthouse, which grew in workloads with the American annexation, which was finally completed in the year 1900. This was solved by giving the construction a completely new layout, which happened in 1911.
Aliʻiōlani Hale was expanded due to lack of space in the 1940s into today’s beautiful building. You can enjoy the architecture from the outside and see the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center exhibit, which depicts Hawaii’s legal history and most important legal cases through time.
This is one of Honolulu’s well-known office buildings from the earlier 20th century. The Territorial Office Building was built in 1925-1926 to local architect Arthur Reynolds’ design. The building was opened as the seat of one of Hawaii’s highest offices; Attorney General of Hawaii.
Reynolds’ architectural style on the Territorial Office Building is imposing and emphasizes the building’s status as the seat of an important American authority. There are elements of both classicism, beaux-arts and art deco in the building, and among the beautiful decorations is the central lobby with a stained glass mosaic of the coat of arms of Hawaii.
The Kawaiaha’o Church is one of Honolulu’s beautiful old buildings from the mission era. It was built in the years 1836-1842 in the style that characterized the New England missions in Hawaii. The building material consisted of several thousand coral stones that came from a reef off the coast south of Oahu. Hawaiian divers swam several meters underwater and carved out the stone blocks before they could be transported up to the construction site.
Kawaiaha’o Church belongs to the Protestant United Church of Christ, and at the time of its construction, the city’s main Catholic church was also built. There was thus a kind of rivalry, but the importance of Kawaiaha’o Church was emphasized by the fact that it was the main part of the church of the Hawaiian kings before King Kamehameha IV and his wife Emma transferred to the Anglican Church. In Kawaiaha’o Church there are portraits of many rulers, and King Lunalilo also chose to be buried in the church instead of in the royal mausoleum located elsewhere in Honolulu.
The church is still used as the church, and it stands as a beautiful example of the 19th century mission style in Hawaii. Behind the clean exterior you can experience a simple and bright church room, where columns support the upper galleries. If you want to see King Lulalilo’s tomb, it is an independent mausoleum outside the church.
Honolulu Hale is the city hall of the city of Honolulu and the seat of the city government and of the mayor’s offices. This has not always been the case, because in the past Honolulu was led by a government through the so-called Board of Supervisors, and they held meetings at various addresses in the city. In 1907, the City & County of Honolulu was formed and board member Fern became the first mayor. One of Fern’s plans was the establishment of a town hall, and successor John H. Wilson realized the project.
Honolulu Hale means Honolulu’s House in Hawaiian, and the City Hall building was completed in 1928 to be opened the following year. Many of the leading architects of the time were involved in the project, and the architecture became the popular neo-colonial Italian-Spanish style of the day. The inner courtyard and other elements were inspired by the Bargello in Italian Florence.
Hawaii State Library: This is the state of Hawaii’s national library and thus the archipelago’s most important library. Construction was completed 1911-1913 to designs by Henry D. Whitfield, and Andrew Carnegie financed the project. The new library replaced The Honolulu Library and Reading Room Association, which had held the role of leading library since 1879. In 1921, the County Library Law was passed, and with it new libraries were established on the islands of Kauai, Maui and Hawaii.
Washington Place is one of Honolulu’s beautiful 19th century residences. The mansion was built by merchant marine captain John Dominis, who had come to America from Trieste in 1819. In 1837, he came with his wife and child to Hawaii, and five years later, the family got a plot of land as a result of a lawsuit. John Dominis sailed on to earn money to build a house, but he died in a shipwreck in 1846. However, the house was completed the following year with the widow Mary Dominis as owner.
Mary Dominis rented out parts of the new mansion, and one of the first tenants was Anthony Ten Eyck, who had been sent to Hawaii by the President of the United States, James K. Polk. It was Ten Eyck who called the mansion Washington Place in a letter dated February 22, 1848, in honor of George Washington, who was the first president of the United States. February 22 was Washington’s birthday, and the house’s new name was approved by Hawaii’s King Kamehameha III.
Mary Dominis was originally from Boston, and every day until her death in 1889, the American flag was raised over the mansion. After this, Princess Lili’uokalani had it removed. In 1862, Lili’uokalani had married John Owen Dominis, who was the son of John and Mary Dominis. After the wedding, Washington Place became the official residence of Hawaii’s heir to the throne and future queen.
John Owen Dominis passed away in 1891, after which Lili’uokalani took over the mansion. It was also where the Queen was arrested when Americans overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy and turned the archipelago into a republic that could be annexed by the United States. The arrest was made in 1893 with the help of US Marines, and after being imprisoned in ʻIolani Palace, she was placed under house arrest in Washington Place, where she lived until her death in 1917.
In 1921, the administration of Hawaii’s governor purchased Washington Place from the estate of Queen Lili’uokalani. The purchase price was US$55,000, and Governor Wallace Rider Farrington had it remodeled in 1922. Farrington was the first of 12 US governors to live here until the mansion was converted into a historical museum in 2002. It continues to function as a museum, where tours by order.
Hawaii State Art Museum: At the Hawaii State Art Museum you can see a permanent exhibition of Hawaiian art as well as various changing exhibitions. The local artwork on display represents a wide variety of artists and a mix of Hawaii’s ethnic and cultural diversity. In connection with the museum, you can also experience a sculpture garden, which is located around the complex’s former oasis with a swimming pool as its centre.
The museum is housed in building No. 1 Capitol District Building, and before that, Hawaii’s first hotel was located on this site. The hotel was The Hawaiian Hotel, which opened its doors in 1872. The hotel was built of wood and attacked by termites. It was demolished in 1926 and made way for No. 1 Capitol District Building, completed in 1928. After having a number of different owners, the State of Hawaii purchased the building in 2000.
Hawaii’s King Kamehameha IV lived 1834-1863 and ruled the archipelago from 1855 until his death. The king and Queen Emma were good friends with the English Queen Victoria, and this led to the royal couple switching to using the Church of England as their Christian church. Thomas Nettleship Staley was appointed as the first Anglican bishop in Hawaii in 1862, and at the same time King Kamehameha IV initiated the construction of an Anglican cathedral.
Kamehameha IV died in 1863 on Saint Andrew’s Day before the first sod was put in the ground for the new church. However, the construction was realized and the foundation stone of the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew was laid on 5 March 1867. It was London architects William Slater and Richard Herbert Carpenter who designed the church, which was built in the French-Gothic style using prefabricated elements from England.
The church is quite worth seeing with a very European appearance both externally and internally. One of the building’s attractions is the fine and large stained-glass window that shows the visits of European explorers to the Hawaiian Islands.
The street Fort Street is one of Honolulu’s main streets and therefore a well-visited place for both locals and tourists. The name Fort Street comes from Honolulu’s old fort, which was built in 1816 by Russians who wanted to establish themselves in Hawaii for a strategic interest in the kingdom.
The Russians had come to Hawaii as fur traders in the early 19th century, where they traded furs for various meat, fruit and other foodstuffs. King Kamehameha I gave the Russians a piece of land to settle on, and they started building a fort. Kamehameha removed the Russians when he discovered their enterprise. The Russians opened a dialogue with Kauai’s king Kaumualii that he could become king of the entire archipelago. Kaumualii then built five forts on Kauai, but the Russian plan was never realized.
King Kamehameha I’s advisor and governor, John Adams Kuakini, expanded the Russian fort, making it the largest building complex in the archipelago. The fort was built in coral stone which was cut from a nearby reef. The fort was located around the intersection of the current Fort Street Mall and Queen Street, and was built to defend Honolulu’s harbor. Today, Walker Park is located on this site.
The fort was the seat and residence of the governor of Oahu, and there were barracks on the site. Furthermore, there were a number of official offices and authorities that operated from here, and thus the fort was a kind of administrative center for Honolulu, Oahu and Hawaii for part of the 1800s. In the middle of the 19th century, it was found that the fort’s military role had been exhausted, and it was demolished in 1857.
In 1881, Fort Street became the first street in Honolulu to be paved, and over the years several important buildings were erected along the street. The Catholic church, Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (1183 Fort Street), was built in 1842, and in 1859 the Queen’s Hospital was built with 18 beds at the time; it was later moved to another address. It was also in Fort Street that most of the banks were located, and here there were also shops such as Woolworths.
On a walk in the street you can see several interesting buildings. Sacred Hearts Convent School (1159 Fort Street) was important as a place of education in the 1800s and 1900s; the current building dates from 1901. You can also see C. Brewer & Co. Building (827 Fort Street) from the 1920s, which almost looks like a private house, but which was the seat of the trading firm C. Brewer & Co. The building is typical of the period in the so-called territorial style, which mixes elements from the Spanish colonial period, Moorish architecture and Mediterranean buildings together.
The Hawaii Theater is a beautiful theater that was opened by the Consolidated Amusement Company in 1922. At the time, local newspapers described the place as “The Pride of the Pacific” and compared it to the finest theaters in San Francisco and the rest of the United States.
It was the architects Walter Emory and Marshall Webb of Honolulu who designed the building in a neoclassical exterior with ornamentation with features of Byzantine, Corinthian and Moorish architecture. Behind the elegant exterior, theatergoers were greeted by a refined Beaux-Arts interior. On stage and screen, it was vaudeville and silent films in the theater’s first years.
After a gradual exodus of the entertainment industry from downtown Honolulu, the Consolidated Amusement Company decided not to continue the theater, which closed in 1984. A group wanting to preserve the theater purchased the building in 1986, and after an interior renovation, the Hawaii Theater reopened in 1996 Today you can still enjoy the beautiful theater.
In central Honolulu, you can visit the city’s Chinatown, which was traditionally home to the Chinese-American population. The Chinese came to Hawaii in the 19th century, where they were imported to the archipelago to work on Hawaii’s sugar plantations. The Chinese worked on contracts and when they expired, many Chinese settled in this area as traders. However, it was not only Chinese who lived here, but in the 1900 census they made up 56% of Chinatown’s inhabitants.
Part of Chinatown arose in the 1800s, but a fire in 1900 destroyed most of the neighborhood. The fire had started as a controlled destruction of some properties due to bubonic plague infection, but it got out of control after a change in weather. Due to the fire, there are today many buildings that were built in 1900 and 1901.
Chinatown developed rapidly in the first half of the 20th century, but the neighborhood also gained a reputation for being a red light district in the years after World War II. Several mayors later implemented programs to revitalize the neighborhood, where today there is a nice atmosphere among the relatively low-rise buildings.
You can clearly see when you are in Chinatown. Here the signs are different than outside Chinatown; the street names are in both English and Chinese. There are also buildings in an adapted Chinese style and of course a Chinese touch on commercial life. You can take a walk in Sun Yat-Sen Park (South Hotel Street, Bethel Street), which was established in 2007 to commemorate Sun Yat-Sen’s visit to Chinatown in 1879.
Merchant Street was the first place in Honolulu to develop into a commercial center, and as a result, a number of interesting buildings were erected here over time. Today, high-rise buildings elsewhere in the city have taken over Merchant Street’s historic role, but the 1800s and early 1900s environment is preserved through several houses from this era. The intersection between Merchant Street and Bethel Street is a good place to start, as there are old buildings on every street corner.
The Melchers Building (51 Merchant Street) is the street’s oldest building. The house was built in 1854 from coral stone, which, however, can no longer be seen under some recent facade treatments. The building was built as offices for the trading company Melchers and Reiner.
Opposite the Melchers Building is the 1871 Kamehameha V Post Office (46 Merchant Street). It was the city’s first construction to use precast reinforced concrete. The house served as a post office until 1922, and it was named after King Kamehameha V, who built many public offices throughout his reign. Today, the Kumu Kahua Theater is housed in the beautiful building.
On the third street corner is the Yokohama Specie Bank (36 Merchant Street), which was established as a banking agent for Imperial Japan. The Honolulu branch was built in 1909 to designs by architect Henry Livingston Kerr. Today there is, among other things, a kindergarten in the old bank building.
Opposite the former Yokohama Specie Bank can be seen the Honolulu Police Station (842 Bethel Street), built in 1931 in a Spanish Mission style. Among other things, marble from France and mahogany from the Philippines were used for the construction. The house was a police station until 1967.
The Honolulu Police Station occupies the entire block along Merchant Street to Nu’uanu Avenue, and immediately across from the building’s north end is the low-rise Royal Saloon Building from 1890. The building was built as a saloon, and it continues to be so.
Heading south along Merchant Street from the junction of Merchant Street and Bethel Street are several other old buildings. On the west side of the street, the Bishop Bank Building (63 Merchant Street) from 1878 and the Bishop Estate Building (77 Merchant Street) from 1896 are next to each other. On the next street corner, where Merchant Street crosses Fort Street, is the slightly larger Judd Building from 1898.
The Aloha Tower is one of Honolulu’s most distinctive and well-known buildings. The tower stands on the city’s waterfront and has been a landmark in the city since its construction in 1926. The tower is 68 meters high, and at the time of its opening and for several decades, the Aloha Tower was the tallest building in Hawaii. On the 10th floor, there are viewing platforms where you have an excellent view of downtown Honolulu, the city’s harbor, Waikiki Beach and Honolulu’s surroundings.
This is one of Hawaii and Waikiki’s famous old hotels. The hotel’s Spanish-Moorish inspired architecture, its pink colors and the place’s luxurious decor have earned it the nickname The Pink Palace of the Pacific. It is a place you should visit on a trip along Waikiki, and many celebrities have also set up shop here since the hotel opened in 1927.
The first guest to stay at the hotel was Princess Abigail Kawananakoa, who, after the death of Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole in 1922, became the leader of the Hawaiian people and considered by many to be heir to the throne in a re-creation of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
Another famous guest who frequented the hotel and its surroundings was Duke Kahanamoku, who was also called The Duke and The Big Kahuna. The Duke was a swimmer and surfer and won, among other things, Olympic gold in Stockholm in 1912 and silver after Johnny Weissmüller at the Olympics in Paris in 1924. The Duke was also known as the father of modern surfing. A third guest was the US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The Moana Hotel opened in 1901 as the first hotel along Waikiki Beach, and thus the place has a special status that, together with the hotel’s beautiful architecture, makes the building a special experience. It was the landowner Walter Chamberlain Peacock who established The Moana Hotel Company in 1896 with the aim of developing the until then overlooked Waikiki. The opening of the hotel was also the starting point for actual tourism to Waikiki, which was otherwise just built up with beach houses and bungalows.
Architecturally, Moana Hotel’s inspiration came from Europe, and the decor was classy by the standards of the time. The Peacock installed electric elevators as the first place in Hawaii, and several of the 75 rooms had both telephones and bathrooms. There was also a billiards room, salons and a library for guests who were surrounded by the luxury of Honolulu’s beachfront.
Over the years, Moana Hotel was both expanded and remodeled. The neighboring Surfrider hotel was also built in 1952 with an extension in 1969, and all three of these are today combined into one hotel complex. The Moana Hotel itself was restored in 1989 to the style and design from 1901, and it is thereby like a hotel from Honolulu’s first years as an American tourist town. From this time, you can also see the hotel’s large banyan tree, which was planted in 1904.
Along Waikiki Beach at the Kūhiō Beach Park area, you can see the so-called Stones of Kapaemahu, which are four large stones. They represent the four legends Kapaemahu, Kahaloa, Kapuni and Kinohi who are said to have come to Hawaii from the island of Raiatea around the year 400. The stones are said to contain the spiritual essence, mana, of the four men who were said to be healers who healed the people on the archipelago. They toured the islands, and when they were going back to Raiatea, they asked to be placed two stones for their dwelling and two for their bathing place; then they gave their names and mana to the stones before taking their leave.
King’s Village is a shopping center in Honolulu, and as such it is like many others. The special thing about King’s Village is that it is built in a style so that it represents an imagined cityscape of Honolulu around the year 1900. The cobblestones and old-style facades form the framework for the many shops in the centre.
Kūhiō Beach Park is part of the long beach area collectively known as Waikiki Beach. The name Kūhiō comes from Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana’ole, who was the youngest son of Princess Kekaulike Kinoiki II. Kūhiō was a prince and lived right here with his wife, Princess Elizabeth Kahanu. In 1918, the prince opened part of the plot of land as a public beach, and in 1922 the entire Kūhiō property became the property of the city; in 1940 the site opened as the current park.
In Kūhiō Beach Park there are several famous monuments. In the center you can see a statue of Prince Kūhiō, who was also known as a prince of the people because he did a lot to strengthen the Hawaiian people. The statue was produced by sculptor Sean Browne and erected in 2002.
In the green area, Queen Kapiʻolani Park, you can visit the Honolulu Zoo. The garden’s history dates back to 1876, when King Kalākaua laid out a large area of his land for a public park. The following year, the park was opened and named after Kalākaua’s wife, Queen Kapiʻolani. After the opening, King Kalākaua still used the area for his collection of exotic animals. Over the years, more and more animals came, and it developed into today’s zoo, which is home to over 1,200 animals.
This museum is an art museum that is part of the Honolulu Museum of Art, whose main branch is located at 900 Beretania Street. Spalding House became part of the museum in 2011, and it focuses on contemporary art. You can see quite an extensive collection with countless well-known artists represented.
The museum building is called Spalding House, and it was built in 1925-1926 as a private residence by Anna Rice Cooke, who had founded the Honolulu Museum of Art a few years before. Cooke’s daughter, Alice Spalding, later acquired the house, which she bequeathed to the Honolulu Museum of Art, which acquired the site in 1968. In 1986, other owners turned the house into the Comtemporary Museum.
The Hawaiian archipelago was created and is still being created by volcanic eruptions, and you can see that very close to downtown Honolulu, where there are several old volcanoes. Punchbowl Crater is one of these extinct volcanic craters, which was formed during volcanic activity between 30,000 and 800,000 years ago. Punchbowl itself is believed to have formed 75,000-100,000 years ago.
Punchbowl Crater was formerly used by the Hawaiian people for various ceremonies. There was an altar here, which was used, among other things, for human sacrifices to the gods, which occurred in connection with violations of taboos in the Hawaiian faith.
During the reign of King Kamehameha I, cannons were erected on the rim of the crater and used to salute at special events. Later in the 19th century, there was a proposal to use the crater as a cemetery, but that idea was not adopted. In the first half of the 20th century, the Hawaiian National Guard used Punchbowl Crater as a shooting range, and a few years later the idea of a burial ground was revived; this time as a national military cemetery. Work on its construction began in 1948, which is why today you can see the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in the old crater.
The cemetery was established as a monument to those who have served in the United States Army, and of course to those who fell during their service. Over 50,000 people are buried here; they fell during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. From the opening in 1949, the United States also moved fallen soldiers from Guam and Wake Island, among others, here to rebury them. Since its opening, however, others have also been buried, and among them were William F. Quinn and John A. Burns, who were governors of Hawaii.
Queen Emma was the wife of King Kamehameha IV, and she used this house as a summer palace in the years 1857-1885. It was not only the queen who used the house; both Kamehameha IV and the couple’s son, Prince Albert Edward, were in attendance.
Queen Emma Summer Palace is located in the Nu’uanu Valley area, which over time has been a popular place for chiefs, royalty and others who have enjoyed the climate there. The climate is a little cooler than downtown Honolulu, so it’s been a good area to retreat to in the summer.
The house was largely built in Boston and sailed around Cape Horn to Oahu, where it was assembled in 1848 with six rooms, a porch and Doric columns. Two years later, Keoni Ana bought the building for $6,000 and he owned the place for seven years before giving it to his niece; Queen Emma. Emma later built The Edinburgh Room for the house as part of preparations for a visit by the then Duke of Edinburgh.
Queen Emma died in 1889 and the Kingdom of Hawaii then bought the property. The island’s American governor turned the site into a park in 1911. Later, the Daughters of Hawaii organization acquired the summer palace to preserve this part of the Kingdom of Hawaii’s history for posterity, and they set up a museum in the fine building.
At the museum you can see the rooms of the summer palace; Entrance Hall, Front Bedroom, Parlor, Cloak Room, Back Bedroom and Center Hall from the original building and the Edinburgh Room from 1869. Also on display are 19th century fixtures and possessions that belonged to Queen Emma, King Kamehameha IV, Prince Albert Edward and others from Hawaii’s royal families. Among the effects are porcelain, which was given as a gift by British Queen Victoria, and a number of interesting portrait paintings.
This modern church building is one of Honolulu and Hawaii’s most important Catholic churches. The parish here was established in 1931, and a wooden church was completed the following year. However, the church became both too small and needed renovation after a few decades, and the current church was built as a replacement and inaugurated in 1963.
The Catholic mother church in the city, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, had gradually also become too small for major church events, and therefore the Pope gave Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus the status of co-cathedral in 1985.
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