MostEndangered2011

Photos: Courtesy of Rae Huo Article Written By: Victoria Wiseman, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? There’s something urban and cool about Kapahulu Avenue, but you probably can’t put your finger on exactly what it is. Look closely at the building that houses Haili’ Hawaiian Foods on the corner of Kapahulu and Palani Avenues, and you’ll see the art moderne aesthetic that is at Kapahulu Avenue’s core. A more obscure (and cheaper) cousin of art deco, art moderne stresses curving lines like the one at Haili’s entrance-awnings anchored with turnbuckles, horizontal lines and construction that starts right at the sidewalk, no setbacks. Several years ago, Bill Chapman, director of the historic preservation program at the University of Hawaii, took his students to do a field study on Kapahulu. “We found 46 buildings dated to the late ‘30s and ‘40s,” Chapman says, and most with modernist profiles. “It created a pretty consistent pattern up and down the street.” What threatens it? About halfway down Kapahulu, Peggy’s Picks in the Chun Kow building has lost it awning and adopted a wild paint job. Other art moderne buildings on the street were covered with stucco, renovated or destroyed when the street was widened. New buildings have cropped up that are set back from the street and don’t mesh with the architectural style. These gradual renovations and demolitions have already done damage to the area’s cohesion. “I think the loss of the individual piece diminishes a whole,” says Faulkner, of Historic Hawaii Foundation. What can be done? “The city needs to look at creating a special district there,” says Chapman. “If there was a visionary person in the Planning Department it could become a real economic asset. It’s been discovered by [...]

Photos: Courtesy of Linda Legrande Article Written By: Victoria Wiseman, HONOLULU Magazine What is it? In Mānoa, a large, foursquare, Craftsman-style home from the 1920s stands with six others of the same period. Collectively, they’ve greeted visitors and residents alike into Mānoa Valley for nearly a century. With the island’s largest concentration of historic residences, privately owned, historic homes like these are the backbone of the neighborhood’s culture and character. What threatens it? Historic neighborhoods are threatened slowly, one by one, by individual demolitions. The craftsman-style house in Mānoa is just one example. Although it’s 90 years old and in good repair, its new owners have filed a demolition permit and can’t be prevented from taking it down to make way for a new, modern home of their dreams. “They’re tearing down beautiful old homes and building McMansions that are oversize and don’t fit,” says Linda LeGrande, longtime Manoa resident and community activist. “I don’t see the point in tearing down an old house when it has life left in it. It’s really hard to live with that.” This highlights a particularly complicated threat: Individual homeowners, bit by bit, have the power to permanently alter a historic neighborhood. “Honolulu has chosen to provide incentives for preservation, but has no regulatory prohibitions. They control what you can build, but they don’t control demolition,” says Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawaii Foundation. What can be done? Federal and state tax programs provide important tools that neighborhood groups can use to encourage homeowners to put down the wrecking ball, so educating homeowners is an important first step. But in the long-term, preservation has to be made a priority by local government through the creation of special [...]

Photos: Courtesy of Rae Huo UPDATE: 2012 Work on the structure began, and the historic medal grille has been removed and the covered driveway demolished. Plans have been changed to turn the building into student dormitories that will be marketed to Hawaii Pacific University students. What is it? Some historic buildings don’t appeal to our aesthetic sensibilities. They may be old enough and interesting enough to merit historic protections, but their design seems outdated rather than charming. The infamous Queen Emma Building, with its pockmarked appearance, is a prime example. Designed in the 1960’s by Jo Paul Rognstad, it was originally named the York Building, after the York Barbell Co. Built for physician and weight-lifting guru Dr. Richard W. You, the eccentric, brutalist design touches are fitting for a building inspired by feats of brute strength. LISTED AS ENDANGERED IN 2011 Article Written By: Victoria Wiseman, HONOLULU Magazine What threatens it? According to its current owner, Maui-based developer Greg Hatcher of GP Pacific Inc., the building has been vacant for more than five years. It has changed hands twice in that time: in 2006, it was slated to become university student housing, but went back on the market in 2008. Hatcher purchased the building in late 2010 and has plans to turn it into 106 condominiums for residents 60 years or older, re-branding it the “Queen Emma Regency.” His plans are to scrap the exterior of the building. “We’re going to take down the metal façade and replace that with a blush glass curtain wall and put metal panels over the brick,” Hatcher said. What can be done? “It never occurred to me to keep it like it is, so I’m actually interested to hear [...]