Address
Various, Honolulu, HI 96813
TMK
Various
SHPD Historic Site Number
80-14-9905
National Historic District
National Register of Historic Places
#73000661
Abstract
The Merchant Street Commercial and Civic Historic District is located in downtown Honolulu. This district was first listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. This amended form provides clarification of district contributing features, along with expanded description and significance sections, details the district’s history as well as its architectural character, and has added two buildings to the district (The Honolulu Star-Bulletin Building and the Alexander & Baldwin Building). Other new resources added to this district nomination are the site of the original Honolulu Hale and four objects: granite curbs and sidewalks, lava rock curbs, cannons, and a remnant of a cast-iron storefront.
The name of the district has been amended from “Merchant Street Historic District” to “Merchant Street Commercial and Civic Historic District” to distinguish this nomination from the previous one. The district is an excellent example of an early commercial center in post-contact, pre-territorial, and Territorial Hawai‘i. As one of the first official streets in Hawai‘i and one of the city’s first economic hubs, it is significant under Criterion A for its role as ‘Honolulu’s Wall Street’, the location of the Honolulu Stock Exchange, banks, insurance companies, sugar factors, and commission agents. Four out of the five members of the ‘Big Five’ maintained their offices in buildings included within the District. The District is significant under Criterion C. It retains a notable concentration of intact, historic, commercial, and municipal buildings from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. The District is also significant under Criterion D as the site of the original
This list of Hawaii’s historic properties is provided as a public service by Historic Hawaii Foundation. It is not the official list of properties designated on the Hawaii State Register of Historic Places. For official designations and determinations of eligibility, contact the State Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources of the State of Hawaii at 808-692-8015.