[ A WALKING TOUR ]
Honolulu Hale has a strong
Mediterranean look
The Honolulu City Hall's original application for entry onto the National Register of Historic Places has a couple of lines crossed out. They read, "The interior spaces are complex and vast in scale, seemingly reflecting no understandable logic. Movement through the structure, for the uninitiated, is difficult yet surprising."
Hey, sounds like a monument to Hawaii politics!
City Hall, or Honolulu Hale, was created to house all of Honolulu's municipal activities, and had an honor roll of Hawaii architects involved. Of all the Mediterranean-influenced official structures in downtown Honolulu, this is the most conspicuously Italianate -- the stonework trim of the interior courtyard, open to Hawaiian climates, was designed to remind visitors of an Italian bargello. Most of the decoration was created by imported Italian sculptor Mario Valdastri. The rear of the courtyard is surmounted by a grand double stairway and wraparound mezzanine in a vaguely Medieval motif.
Opened for business on Nov. 26, 1929, City Hall is a four-story rectangle with a six-story tower at the rear, making the building look vaguely like a fire station. The main entry faces King Street, behind a zig-zag pattern of planters (for security reasons) and the exterior of the building is complex, with deeply fenestrated windows and balconies of carved stone. The tower is particularly complex and features varied window treatments, open and closed balconies, loggias and cast-concrete grill work.
The roof, covered in terracotta tile, is reticulated with looming sheds and hip forms. The roof is a landscape all by itself.
Two wings were added to the building in 1951, and recently a sliding rain cover was added to the roof over the courtyard. And if you peer into the decorative grill work just to the right of the entryway, you'll discover a small room that has been walled off and forgotten. Maybe there's a forgotten Mirikitani languishing in there.
Honolulu Hale
Opened: 1929 Architect: Charles W. Dickey and Hart Wood Style: Spanish Mission Revival Address: 530 S. King St. National Register: 1978 Hawaii Register: No
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Honolulu Hale boasts an Italian influence, from the courtyard's stonework to the interior decor.
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Quicktime VR Panorama
Click on pictures to view panaromas
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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.
See Holoholo Honolulu for past articles.
