KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Developer Tanya Nicholson intends to reclaim Kahala from the big concrete box-style homes, and she plans to do it with breezy kamaaina-style mansions like this one on Honua Street.

A luxury home doesn’t
have to be a castle

Kamaaina style returns
to high-end estates

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin

Hawaii's old-style Kamaaina homes for the recent past have been thought by many isle residents to be an endangered species, especially in the upscale neighborhoods of East Honolulu.

For much of the 1980s and '90s, the charming Hawaii-style open-air homes gradually disappeared, torn down to be replaced in many cases by gated Mediterranean-style stucco homes stretching from property line to property line.

But a young California couple is betting an updated luxury version of the kamaaina home will attract enough buyers to re-establish the architectural style as an island favorite.

Tom and Tanya Nicholson had already been successful in developing upscale speculative homes for the California market. In one case they updated the quaint traditional styles found in the neighborhoods of California's Newport Beach.

But when they visited Honolulu from time to time, they noticed as they drove through East Honolulu neighborhoods that fewer and fewer of the old-style Hawaii homes remained.

"It was not the Hawaii I was expecting," Tanya said. "But I did take note of some of these jewels that had not been demolished."

Over the next couple of years on visits to Hawaii, the couple became intrigued with the idea of re-creating the style and began researching both the real estate market and the history and features of kamaaina homes.

KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM Developer Tanya Nicholson and her husband, Tom, had already developed and sold upscale homes in California before moving onto the Hawaii market.

Talking to real estate agents in the Kahala area, they also found there was interest among homebuyers in the charming, kamaaina homes reminiscent of 1940s Hawaii.

They decided to take the plunge and bought several pieces of land with the idea of re-creating some of that charm.

After hooking up with a local architect, Philip K. White and interior designer Dian Cleve, work began on their first house in August last year.

Last week, the newly completed home on Honua Street in Kahala was unveiled. The Nicholsons will hold an open house for the public today.

They are already working on four more homes, three in Kahala and one in Diamond Head, and are considering other acquisitions if the style is as well received as they believe it will be.

While the two-story home embraces the features that many kamaaina remember, such as a steep pitched cedar shake roof, hardwood and stone floors, vaulted ceilings covered in lauhala and open spaces leading onto a covered lanai, pool and gardens, it also contains the state-of-the-art features expected of a home priced at $2.6 million.

Twelve-foot pocketing doors with screens separate the interior of the home from the lanai and yard and slide seamlessly into the walls.

The kitchen features appliances and fixtures that would meet the approval of a gourmet cook. There is also a pool and a heated spa.

Architect White, who designed the property, describes the ideal kamaaina home as one that "sits quietly on the lot."

"It has to have breathing room and it should be open," he said. "It needs to respect the weather patterns.

"It's also the use of sun, shade, wind and grass. A kamaaina home uses all these things to its advantage."

That's something that many of the larger homes that have popped up in recent years don't do, he said.

A house should not go from property line to property line. If it can't breath, it can't let the air through, White said.

"If you don't leave yourself room to be outside your house and enjoy the outside, you're cheating yourself," he said. "It's also a house that works. It's not a monument."