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  11/23/2021: The North Shore Chamber's Historic Preservation Committee is happily witnessing 25 years of planning and volunteer work come to fruition.  Signage interpreting the history of Hale‘iwa is in the process of being installed on historic buildings along the town's main street.  To date, the narratives of 15 building plaques have been completed, involving countless hours of research, writing, and interviews with property owners and residents to supplement information collected during the 1960s.  The narratives highlight the history of each building and their unique role in the development of the town.  Illustrations by Ilona Hemperly add visual charm. The signage project also involves two additional components: a revision and reprinting of the Chamber's Hale‘iwa Walking Tour brochure and map; and the installation of four interpretive kiosks across town that will showcase historic events, photos, and maps for each location. "These signs will complement the Chamber's Walking Tour or stand on their own in telling Hale‘iwa's story to residents and visitors alike so they can learn about Hale‘iwa's unique history and character," explained Antya Miller, chair of the Historic Preservation Committee. Recent issues of the monthly North Shore News have featured short stories about each building with photos of property owners and tenants standing before the newly installed signs.  Click here to see the September 22nd issue and the October 20th issue. While there is more progress to be made, the staff of Historic Hawai‘i Foundation send cheers of congratulations and encouragement to Antya, Barbara, Boyd and the rest of the committee for their wonderful accomplishments. Hale‘iwa is designated as a Special Design District. In 2019, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation partnered with the Chamber to give a presentation on Hale‘iwa's zoning and Special District [...]

Pilot Internship Develops a Use and Management Plan for the Jean Charlot House In January 2021, Nicole Bowman, a fourth-year architecture student at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, completed a pilot summer internship through a May 2020 agreement with the University of Hawai‘i’s Community Design Center (UHCDC). The goal was to develop a use and management plan for the Jean Charlot House.* See “Innovative Partnership with University of Hawai‘i Advances Plans for Charlot House” in the HHF November 2020 newsletter for background on the program and goals. *Learn more about the Jean Charlot House in this 2016 Honolulu Star Advertiser exclusive article, “The Jean Charlot House in Kahala is a Wonderful Integration of Art and Architecture”: https://historichawaii.org/2016/03/08/jeancharlothouse/ In September 2021, HHF Education Program Manager, Andrea Nandoskar,  sat down with Nicole (via Zoom!) to learn more about her experience. Historic Hawai‘i Foundation: Please share a little about yourself and your current studies. Nicole Bowman: I’m currently in my second year of the Doctorate in Architecture program at UH Mānoa and am set to graduate next year. I’m from Kawaihae area on Hawai‘i Island and have lived in Hawai‘i since moving here from southern California with my family when I was six. My dad is a contractor and my parents run a construction company. I have full intentions to stay within my community after graduation and give back to the people who helped raise me. Nicole shared she’s been interested in impacting people’s lives from a young age. Being homeschooled her education was very hands on throughout. Her parent’s work was integrated into her schooling. As a youngster she attended many of their meetings often drawing in the background while her parents discussed the projects with [...]

Historic Hawai‘i Foundation is serving as a consulting party to the Hāna Highway Bridge Improvements project led by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Hawai‘i Department of Transportation (HDOT).  The project is evaluating six bridges along the Hana Highway (State Route 360) for potential improvement. The highway, a critical transportation link, connects East Maui communities with the rest of the island.  It is also one of the most spectacular sections of roadway in its natural scenery, dramatic hairpin turns, and historic character.  Below, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation provides a description of the project and an update as of September 2021. February 2020 Project Overview The oldest bridge on Maui, Mokulehua Bridge along the Hāna Highway (photo above left), is one of six historic bridges being considered for “improvements” by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  The planning effort includes evaluating a range of alternatives, from repair and rehabilitation of the existing structures to demolition and replacement using new design and materials. Hāna Highway, Route 360, is part of the Hāna Belt Road Historic District, listed on the Hawai‘i and National Registers of Historic Places for its historic road, bridges and culverts. The Hāna Belt Road is historically significant for engineering, transportation, commerce and social history.  The construction of bridges and a road to Hāna between 1900 and 1947 was a major engineering achievement across precipitous mountainsides and through the wilderness of East Maui.  Fifty-nine bridges built between 1908 and 1947 remain along the route.  The completion of an automobile route to Hāna in 1926 ended that community’s isolation from the rest of Maui.  The road opened East Maui to settlement, agriculture and tourism. The Hāna Belt Road is the best remaining intact example of [...]

A new and networked nonprofit seeks to raise $15 million to buy Spalding House from the Honolulu Museum of Art. by Chad Blair, Honolulu Civil Beat October 3, 2021 - Republished with permission It started over a meal at Merriman’s in Honolulu in late January 2020, as things sometimes do. Meeting a few months after the Honolulu Museum of Art put its historic Spalding House property on the market for $15 million, film festival director Jeannette Paulson Hereniko was introduced to realtor-broker Sarah Bakewell just two months before Covid-19 began to ravage Hawaii. Hereniko, whose many hats include founding the Hawaii International Film Festival in 1981 and serving as HIFF’s director for the next 15 years, wondered whether Spalding House, nestled in Makiki Heights, could be converted into a hub for local filmmakers rather than sold as a luxury private residence. “Sarah had an idea of saving Spalding House for the arts, something similar to what she had done for a historical home in St. Louis,” Hereniko said. “I had been looking informally for years up to that point to do something for film, to find a place — a home, a theater where we could show movies. It had been a dream project for years.” Recalls Bakewell, a Kauai native with Hawaii Life Real Estate Brokers, “When I became aware that it was going to go on the open market, I really felt strongly that it would be great if we could find a group to get together and purchase it and keep it as a community arts asset. Because someone could buy it and make it a home, which of course it was.” A screen shot from the promotional video for reimagining Spalding House in Makiki [...]