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The Hawai‘i Architectural Foundation (HAF) has recognized Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, with the Paepae I Ka Pōhaku Award, in appreciation of her sustained efforts to raise community awareness of architectural design and the importance of the built environment over the past 15 years. The award, given only to non-architects, was presented to Kiersten by HAF President Chris Hong at the 47th Annual Preservation Honor Awards Virtual Ceremony on Friday, May 21, 2021.

Clifford Naeole. Photo by Ritz Carlton Kapalua. By Trisha Kehaulani Watson, J.D., Ph.D., owner of Honua Consulting, a consulting company and respected leader in environmental and cultural resource management in Hawai‘i. As the Hawaiian cultural advisor for The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua, Clifford Nae‘ole prides himself on being an educator to both the residents and visitors who come to the property. As a professional in the hospitality industry with 35 years of experience, he both enjoys and excels in his profession. Traditionally trained as a chanter and hula dancer, Clifford has used his background as a cultural practitioner to develop a robust and authentic cultural program that focuses on teaching guests the importance of respecting Hawai‘i as a place and Hawaiians as a people. Yet, unlike others in the hospitality industry, Nae‘ole also carries a notably heavy kuleana. For over twenty years, caring for the kūpuna of Honokahua has been his primary responsibility. Many may already be familiar with the history of the site: during the initial development of the hotel in the 1980s, over 1,000 iwi kūpuna (ancestral remains of Native Hawaiians) were encountered and exhumed. This led to extensive demonstrations and years of advocacy to both return the kūpuna to their resting place and to change existing preservation laws to prevent similar events from occurring again. Protectors of Honokahua Burial Preserve. Photo by Kapulani Landgraf. Nae‘ole, including community leaders like Dana Naone Hall, Isaac Hall, Kahu Charles Maxwell, Leslie Kulololi‘o, and many others, worked for years to have a burial preserve created that ensured the kūpuna of Honokahua could be returned to their resting place and be left in peace. As a result, the site today is protected through a conservation [...]

By Pat Griffin Historian, planner and preservationist, former Chair of the Kaua‘i Historic Preservation Review Commission, current member of the Hawai‘i Historic Places Review Board and HHF Trustee Christine Faye is well-known as an expert in the history of West Kaua‘i. Her family ties to the area began 140 years ago when her great grandfather, Hans Peter Faye, immigrated there from Norway. In 1884 he founded H.P. Faye & Co. sugar plantation at Mānā. Descendants of his followed in his sugar industry footsteps until the closure of Gay & Robinson, Kaua‘i’s last working plantation, in 2009. Chris Faye and Mike Faye are seen here in front of the house that once belonged to their ancestor and founder of the Kekaha Sugar Co., Hans Peter Faye. Chris herself was involved at Gay & Robinson. She founded a visitor center there in 1999 and organized tours of the plantation’s cane fields and factory, utilizing guides who had themselves grown up on plantations. Through that intimate lens visitors could learn about both the business of the company and the life of the community: its homes, schools, clubhouses, medical facilities and everyday activities. Her work at G&R followed from the walking tour she had previously established for visitors at the Waimea Plantation Cottages and the Waimea Mill Camp, a living neighborhood adjacent to the cottages. But Chris’s dedication to the knowledge and preservation of the place she calls home is broad. Researchers of Kaua‘i history may have received assistance from Chris during her six years as curator of the Kaua‘i Museum. Her familiarity with the museum’s archives has led more than a few people to remark that Chris found important materials during a document search that they [...]

Ka Hale Lā‘au, the oldest still-standing, Western-style structure in Hawai‘i, also known as the "Old Mission House” and the “1821 Frame House”,  is celebrating its bicentennial year in 2021. Originally built as a residence for the first company of New England Protestant missionaries sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the structure became the first seat of the Sandwich Islands Mission and served as the Honolulu Mission Station. It was in active use from 1820-1862. The structure was delivered from Boston as cut lumber to be assembled upon arrival (what would be called pre-fabricated today). To get here, the structure travelled around Cape Horn aboard the brig Thaddeus with the first mission company, arriving first in Kona in April 1820. It was transported to Honolulu on board the ship Tartar on Christmas Day of 1820. After careful consideration by the ali‘i, in particular King Liholiho, the missionaries were given permission to build the structure in March of 1821. Construction for the first iteration of the house began the following month, and members of the first company were residing in it by August. The house remained in various stages of construction throughout the 19th century, changing to fit the evolving needs of the Honolulu Mission Station. The station compound grew, as did its community, and by the 1840s the house had two kitchens and up to 5 families living inside, each family occupying one room. When the active mission era concluded in the mid-19th century, the house became the primary residence of the Cooke family and remained their property until it was gifted to the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society to be used as a historic site in 1907. Since then, due to numerous [...]