A walking tour
BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM
The architects of the Alexander & Baldwin Building aimed for an artistic timelessness, and it looks much the same today as when it opened in 1929.
Architectural
cornerstone
retains charm
It was like a team of superheroes when architects C.W. Dickey and Hart Wood combined their considerable design skills to create a memorial to S.T. Alexander and H.P. Baldwin, founders of one of Honolulu's "Big Five" industries. Their creation is an architectural cornerstone of Honolulu's financial district, and one of the most successful mixtures of Asian and European adaptations in Hawaii.
Alexander & Baldwin Building
Address: 822 Bishop St.Architects: C.W. Dickey and Hart Wood
Significance: Commerce
Opened: 1929
National Register: 1979
One of the most modern buildings in the islands when it opened in 1929, the Alexander & Building -- the "A&B" -- is constructed of steel with concrete casings. Four stories, the building's signature is the "Dickey-style" overhanging tile roof that provides a lid for a wide fourth-floor balcony. The third floor has deeply recessed windows that frame the projecting balcony above, and the ground and second floors are combined on the exterior with grand openings.
The interior reception area was designed to be two-story as well, faced with Travertine marble imported from Italy and bracketed by tiled murals. But when the building was retro-fitted with air conditioning and an intermediate floor was added, much of the interior design lost its sense of space.
The exterior, however, is pretty much the way it was designed by Dickey and Wood, a wild melange of Chinese, Hawaiian, Japanese, Italian, Moorish and Tibetan influences. Watch for recurring Chinese good-luck symbols in the bronze grilles scattered through the building.
HAWAII STATE ARCHIVES
The grounds were designed by noted landscape architect Richard Tongg, and provide an attractive framework for what little remains of downtown Honolulu's natural environment.
Every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin Travel section, rediscover the charms of old Hawaii through a tour created by the Honolulu Historic Trail Committee and Historic Hawai'i Foundation and supported by the city's Office of Economic Development. The yearlong project commemorates Honolulu's bicentennial.
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See Honolulu city highlights
Various Honolulu historical organizations have clamored for years to have some sort of survey created of downtown Honolulu's historical sites. The mayor's Office of Economic Development stepped in last year to create order, and 50 locations were chosen as representative of Honolulu's history.
There is, of course, far more history in Honolulu's streets than indicated here, but these sites give the high points and can be visited on a walking tour lasting about three hours.
To commemorate Honolulu's bicentennial, the Star-Bulletin kicks off "Holoholo Honolulu" today, a year-long project to examine these historic properties. For the next 50 Sundays in the Travel section, stories and photographs will illuminate these sites.
But that's just the tip of the architectural iceberg. Viewers can step right into these locations via the magic of QuickTime Virtual Reality, a computer process that allows visitors from around the world to feel as if they're standing right there on the street.
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Quicktime VR Panorama
Click on pictures to view panaromas
BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM
BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STARBULLETIN.COM
WE'RE ALSO looking for old photographs of these sites to scan for public use. If you have anything, let us know:
Write to:
Holoholo
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
7-210 Waterfront Plaza
500 Ala Moana
Honolulu, HI 96813.E-mail:
bburlingame@starbulletin.com
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calendars and events.
