Visitor Service Building Rehabilitation

More than 500,000 visitors frequent the Kīlauea Lighthouse Wildlife Refuge annually.  Established in 1985 to preserve and enhance seabird nesting colonies, the Refuge was expanded in 1988 to include Crater Hill and Mōkōlea Point. It’s a beacon of hope for threatened Hawaiian wildlife & their habitats as well as the home of the historic Daniel K. Inouye Kīlauea Point Lighthouse, built in 1913, which sits on the northernmost point of Kaua‘i.

Photo courtesy of Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA)/Tor Johnson.

The Visitor Service Building is an important historic structure noted as a contributing resource to the Kīlauea Point Light Station, which is listed on the Hawai‘i and National Registers of Historic Places, associated with the development of transportation and navigational history in Hawai‘i and the US.  Used as the light keeper’s residence in the past, the building is now a visitor center–prominently on display.  The center will continue to play an eminent role now and into the future, as a place to share local history through story-telling and other projects and exhibits.

Rehabilitation work included replacement of the non-historic vinyl windows with custom double-hung wood windows in keeping with the historic character of the building.  New windows and interior trim were designed and executed to match the original 1913 window condition with new interior wood trim handmade to exactly match original trim profiles. The successful completion of this project which preserves the character-defining features to their original condition, celebrates the continued use of these historic support structures to the Lighthouse and is an essential step forward in protecting and preserving one of Kauai’s most well-known, well-loved historic places.

 

The Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Service Building Rehabilitation will be honored with a Preservation Award at the 44th Annual Preservation Honor Awards ceremony on May 23, 2018 in Honolulu.