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Who would ever think fabricated rock would be eligible to receive a preservation award?  This was the facetious question that crossed my mind as I headed out with my fellow Preservation Awards Selection Committee members for an unusual site visit at none other than Diamond Head State Park, a state monument that is perhaps THE most iconic natural landmark in Hawai‘i. Known to the ancient Hawaiians as Le‘ahi, and better known today as Diamond Head Crater, it is the dramatic remnant of a once-active volcano consisting of a type of highly erodible rock called volcanic tuff. In 1908, the U.S. Army built a trail from the crater floor up the interior crater wall to the lookout at the Fire Control Station on the summit. This has become the Diamond Head Visitor Trail which now hosts nearly 1 million visitors every year. But this trail is not without its dangers; the volcanic tuff along the trail is prone to rock falls and rock slides that have long been a safety hazard. The trail hugs the tuff rock wall of the crater on one side, with railings protecting hikers against sheer drops on the other. The goal of this preservation project was to prevent hazardous rock fall from the unstable slopes while preserving the appearance of the historic visitor trail. The project included rockfall mitigation at 15 sites along the trail. The slopes of weathered tuff were highly fractured, with multiple cracks showing imminent potential for rock to fall directly on the trail and potentially injuring unsuspecting hikers. The scope of work consisted of clearing the slopes and scaling lose rocks, drilling and installing steel reinforcing anchors, and adding geo-composite drain strips to relieve hydrostatic pressure behind [...]

The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives, Kumu Earl Kawa‘a, Kumu Dwight Kauahikaua, and other stakeholders will be recognized with a Preservation Programmatic Award for the construction of a hale pili representation on the grounds of Hawaiian Mission Houses. In 1820, by order of Liholiho, Boki, Governor of O‘ahu, had a row of hale pili (grass houses) constructed for the second company of missionaries who arrived in April of that year.  The hale, occupied first by Hiram Bingham, Daniel Chamberlain with his wife and five children, and Maria Loomis and child, were situated east of the ship landing, along an uninhabited section of the road to Waikīkī that later became known as Missionary Row. Development, research and permitting phases of the project began in 2014 under the leadership of Spencer Leineweber, FAIA, and Executive Director Emeritus Tom Woods.  Kawa‘a and Kauahikaua served as cultural consultants and hale building experts. Groundbreaking for the building was held in 2018 and the final phase of thatching the hale pili will be completed this year. Design of the hale is based on descriptions found in the journals and letters of William and Clarissa Richards, Charles and Harriet Stewart, and Betsey Stockton from the Mission Houses’ archival collection. The dimensions primarily follow the Richards’ description. In order to ensure the durability of this reproduction and both the safety of it and adjoining structures, noted Peter Young, former president of Hawaiian Mission Houses, “an integration of traditional (‘ōhi‘a) and modern materials (such as artificial pili grass) and techniques were used to build the hale.” Kawa‘a and Kumu Dwight Kauahikaua provided another dimension to the project by developing a cultural place-based curriculum to mentor students of Roosevelt High School and Kinai [...]

The rehabilitation of two historic buildings just off of Ala Moana Boulevard--1900 Screen House and 1940 Pump House--is a wonderful example of how "old" buildings can be preserved and continue to serve the community with a new purpose.  Both structures are part of the larger Ala Moana Pumping Station complex that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Hawaii Register of Historic Places. All three buildings were part of an ambitious scheme in the 1880s and 1890s to improve public health in the growing city.  Outbreaks of disease and an epidemic led to the creation of the city’s first public sewer system that would collect waste-water and channel it to this site on Ala Moana Boulevard. From there, powerful steam-powered pumps would force the sewage out into the ocean. The architect selected to create the buildings for this equipment was Oliver G. Traphagen, who had left his large successful practice in Duluth, Minnesota and relocate his family and career to Honolulu in 1887. His many significant Hawaiʻi commissions included the Judd Building on the corner of Fort and Merchant Streets downtown and the Moana Hotel on Kalākaua Avenue in Waikīkī. The 1900 Kakaʻako Pumping Station was designed by Traphagen in a style known as Romanesque. Although it now may seem an elaborate style for such a utilitarian structure, it was commonly used for civic buildings in this period and was often Traphagen’s choice for large buildings he designed in Duluth. The Kakaʻako Pumping Station was rehabilitated earlier and received a Preservation Honor Award in 2017.  It is now the Nā Kūpuna Makamae Center. This Preservation Honor Award is for the rehabilitation of the two smaller buildings on the site: the 1900 [...]

Fall Classes Include, Elements of Style in American Architecture & Decorative Arts and Preservation: Theory & Practice The University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa is offering classes in Historic Preservation as part of the American Studies Graduate Certificate Program in Historic Preservation. Whether you have an interest in pursuing a career in the field, want to enhance your professional skills or are keen to learn for learning's sake, these classes may be a fit for you. Historic preservation is a dynamic and evolving field, focusing on the care and management of the built environment and the protection of cultural heritage, in the widest sense. It is strongly tied to local, state and federal laws, historic preservation as both a field of inquiry and as a profession. Historic preservationists work in city, state and county agencies, for the federal government, in museums and non-profit organizations and in private consulting, planning, architecture and resource management firms. Increasingly, preservationists are involved in education, both at the K-12 level and in colleges and universities. There are currently over two dozen institutions of higher learning in the U.S. offering degrees or other courses or training in historic preservation including the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Read more about the Historic Preservation Certificate Program here. Applications should be directed to the graduate division with the required paperwork. Community members who wish to enroll in one or more of the Historic Preservation courses, may do so by applying as a Post-Baccalaureate Unclassified student at UHM and then enroll in the course after they are accepted upon acceptance. Applications must be submitted by July 31 for Fall 2020. There is an application fee of $100. Click here to learn more and apply. Forward questions [...]

Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation’s Preservation Honor Awards are Hawaiʻi’s highest recognition of preservation projects that perpetuate, rehabilitate, restore, or interpret the state’s architectural and/or cultural heritage.  "Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawaiʻi" is honored with an Achievement in Interpretive Award, recognizing advocacy, educational, programmatic, or other activity that promotes preservation efforts. "Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawaiʻi" is a documentary about Japanese Americans from Hawaiʻi interned during WWII, and includes updates on local internment sites, including Honouliuli National Monument.  The film explores personal accounts of Hawai‘i’s Japanese Americans from their initial arrest and internment in places like Kilauea Military Camp (Hawaiʻi Island), Sand Island and Honouliuli (Oʻahu), as well as their incarceration in New Mexico, Arkansas, and Arizona. The film draws from archaeologists Mary Farrell and Jeff Burton’s 2017 research and archaeological survey to document the locations of former World War II incarceration sites across Hawai‘i, including Sand Island Detention Center and the U.S. Immigration Station, Kalaheo Stockade (Kauaʻi), Haʻikū Camp (Maui) and Kilauea Military Camp (Hawaiʻi Island). Information on all 17 of Hawai‘i’s known sites is supplemented with updates about the former Honouliuli Internment Camp and the grassroots efforts led by volunteers of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i that resulted in the site being designated a National Historic Site, under stewardship of the National Park Service. While the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II has been well documented on the U.S. Mainland, in Hawai‘i, previously untold stories from this dark chapter in history and new information about the sites continue to emerge.  The main goal of this film is to create awareness about the Japanese American incarceration experience in Hawaiʻi and to highlight the former prison sites around the [...]

  As part of the Preservation Honor Awards, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation recognizes milestone anniversaries of local organizations, companies and historic places. This year marks the 200th year of the arrival of the pioneer company of Christian missionaries to Hawai‘i. The Bicentennial Anniversary Recognition will be presented to the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site & Archive/Hawai‘i Missionary Children’s Society, Mokuaikaua Church, Waimea Mission Church, Kawaiaha‘o Church, and the Hawai‘i Conference of the United Church of Christ (HCUCC) . On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast United States set sail on the Thaddeus ship bound for Hawai‘i.  After 160 days at sea, on March 30, 1820, the Pioneer Company first sighted and landed at Kawaihae on the Island of Hawai‘i. On April 4, 1820, the Thaddeus arrived and anchored at Kailua-Kona. A model of the Thaddeus displayed at Mokuaikaua Church. The HCUCC's history* recounts the events that led to the first company of missionaries: “When a young Hawaiian by the name of Henry Ōpukaha‘ia sailed to New England, even he did not know the impact he would have on Christianity in Hawai‘i. While in the United States, after making the decision to become a Christian, he begged his teachers to send missionaries back to the Hawaiian Islands. “Ōpukaha‘ia died before he could see his wishes become reality, but in 1819 the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions for the Congregational Churches (predecessor denomination of the United Church of Christ) sent its first missionaries to Hawai‘i. The Board charged them ‘…to aim at making people of every class wise and good and happy.’ Historian Peter Young of Hawaiian Mission Houses noted that the American Board of Commissioners for [...]

Background The U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) occupies 2,475 acres in the moku of Kona and the Ahupua‘a of Manā on the west side of the island of Kaua‘i.  PMRF is the world's largest instrumented multi-environment range capable of supporting subsurface, surface, air and space testing and training operations.  PMRF encompasses seven miles of continuous shoreline.  Prior to military and sugar production support, the land was used solely for sustenance. Nohili dunes is located within the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands.  It is recognized as a powerful wahi pana by native Hawaiians with some practitioners considering it a spiritual ascending point or leina where the spirits of past Hawaiian ancestors ascend to lani (heaven). Chants, songs and hula celebrate and describe Nohili as a thriving place with many resources such as an abundance of fish, fauna and flora-like Kauna'oa*, that provide food and medicine.  Kumu and students are drawn here to visit and honor their ancestors.  Many cultural practitioners from around the world bring their hālau to Nohili to present a ho‘okupu (offering) in the form of hula, mele, oli and/or lei in exchange for spiritual mana or energy. *Ancient Hawaiian la'au lapa'au, herbal medicine experts, combined kauna'oa with other plants to treat chest colds, clean out the gastrointestinal tract, and assist women before and after childbirth. Source: https://www.mauimagazine.net/kaunaoa/ The Project    Over time coastal erosion of the Nohili dune areas has exposed iwi kūpuna (ancestral human remains). The Lua Kupapau O Nohili crypt was constructed as a way to provide a weatherproof structure to preserve, protect, and appropriately handle and honor iwi kūpuna found there. The crypt was completed in June of 2019 and consists of a 6 x 6 x 6-foot concrete shoebox [...]

Bob Sigall, a familiar name among readers of the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, is the creative mind behind the weekly column, Rearview Mirror, that shares stories and history about Hawai‘i’s people, places and businesses.  With a natural knack for making history accessible, Sigall adds a signature dose of charm and an endless sense of curiosity and admiration for Hawai‘i’s past in his prose providing his readers with a sense of identity and awareness. In one of his columns, Sigall identified each reference Mitchell made to places here in Hawai‘i, including Foster Botanical Gardens and The Royal Hawaiian Hotel, in her catchy title, "Big Yellow Taxi". “I think it (the column) tells us who we are today, it's not just things that happened to other people," remarked Sigall in a 2019 interview.1  "We are the remnant of that history and we are thrown into the world from those people and those events that happened in the past...And that is why I write a column every week, is to try and capture some of this history before we have lost it.” Sigall’s passion for history fuels his research and writing of Rearview Mirror which he began in 2011. Prior to that, since 1978 he has been a business consultant, consulting with over 1,000 local Hawai‘i companies.  He also taught marketing and management at Hawai‘i Pacific University for 15 years and with the help of his students, researched and wrote a popular series of books entitled The Companies We Keep. Historic Hawai‘i Foundation is thrilled to recognize Sigall for Rearview Mirror and all his contributions to Hawai‘i with an Achievements in Interpretive Media Preservation Award.  His love and respect for our Islands is an integral part of who [...]

As part of the Preservation Honor Awards, Historic Hawai‘i Foundation recognizes milestone anniversaries of local organizations, companies and historic places. In 2020, Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. (A&B) reaches its sesquicentennial: 150 years since its founding in 1870. Now primarily a real estate company that owns, operates and manages local properties in Hawaii’s business, industrial and retail communities, A&B was founded as a venture to grow sugarcane in 1870 on Maui. The company has evolved over 150 years from agriculture to include railroads, shipping companies, commercial real estate and other business ventures. The company's history page* recounts the story of the founders, Samuel T. Alexander and Henry P. Baldwin: “In 1843, Samuel Thomas Alexander and Henry Perrine Baldwin, sons of pioneer missionaries, met in Lahaina, Maui. They grew up together, became close friends and went on to develop a sugar-growing partnership that spanned generations and left an indelible mark on Hawai‘ . Alexander pictured at left and Baldwin on the right. Alexander was the idea man, more outgoing and adventurous of the two. He had a gift for raising money to support his business projects. Baldwin was more reserved and considered the “doer” of the partners; he completed the projects conceived by Alexander. After studying on the Mainland, Alexander returned to Maui and began teaching at Lahainaluna High School, where he and his students successfully grew sugarcane and bananas. Word of the venture spread to the owner of Waihe‘e sugar plantation near Wailuku, and Alexander accepted the manager’s position. He hired Baldwin as his assistant, who at the time was helping his brother raise sugarcane in Lahaina. It was the beginning of a lifelong working partnership. By 1869, the young men – Alexander was [...]

Rehabilitated Palm Quarters 6 The U.S. Army Garrison of Hawai‘i, Lendlease Corporation and Fung Associates will be recognized for the rehabilitation of Quarters 6 and 7 on Palm Circle Drive for a 2020 Project Award.  These elegant historic homes, built in 1907, contribute to the National Register Historic District at Fort Shafter.  The District is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places. Fort Shafter was the first permanent Army installation in the Hawaiian Islands, established in 1907.  It was constructed to be a “Showcase Installation,” designed to be one of the most beautiful bases in the Army’s inventory, with Palm Circle as a “model of exceptional town planning” based on an American-Edwardian architectural design. Aerial view of Palm Circle While the architects used quarter master plans from the mainland, they modified them to suit Hawaii’s tropical climate. The Palm Circle homes feature large verandas, generous overhangs, and soaring ceilings to allow trade winds indoors. The horizontal wood siding on the exterior of the homes is redwood, and the interior originally Douglas fir. Palm Circle Residences 6 & 7 face the large oval-shaped, lawn-ringed Palm Circle Drive and are two of the fifteen classic quarters that dot the perimeter of the landmark. Quarters Six is particularly important as the 1930s home of George S. Patton who became one of America’s military heroes of WWII.  Palm Circle, which frames the large parade field next door, received its name from the majestic Royal Palm trees brought from Cuba as a symbol of the Army's victory in the Spanish-American War. Palm Quarters 6 in 1914 The project goal was to restore each home’s [...]