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Honolulu Hale

Seat of government of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Summary

Seat of government of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi

Field	Value
name	Honolulu Hale
nrhp_type	cp
nocat	yes
partof	Hawaii Capital Historic District
image	Honolulu-Hale-widefront.JPG
caption	Front elevation along King St.
location	530 S. King St., Honolulu, Hawaii
coordinates
locmapin	Hawaii
built	1928
architect	C.W. Dickey & Hart Wood, Robert Miller, Rothwell Kangeter & Lester
architecture	Italianate Spanish Colonial Revival style
added	1 December 1978
partof_refnum	78001020

Honolulu Hale (originally called the Honolulu Municipal Building), located on 530 South King Street in downtown Honolulu in the City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, is the official seat of government of the city and county, site of the chambers of the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu City Council.

In the Hawaiian language, hale (pronounced HAH-leh) means house or building. Honolulu Hale means Honolulu House (although the Hawaiian language word order would be Hale Honolulu). In 1978, it was listed as a contributing property to the Hawaii Capital Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History

Honolulu Hale was an idea started by Joseph J. Fern. Before becoming a mayor-council type of government, Honolulu was administered by the Board of Supervisors. After the creation of the now-defunct County of Oahu, the Board of Supervisors met in city halls located in various downtown Honolulu locations. Supervisor Fern had a vision of a permanent home for the fledgling municipal government, which had only been created in 1900 upon passage of the Hawaiian Organic Act. When the County of Oahu and the Board of Supervisors dissolved in 1907 and established the City & County of Honolulu, Fern became its first mayor and began making preliminary plans for the construction of a city hall. Unfortunately, Fern died in 1920 of diabetes before he could persuade residents of the need for a permanent city hall. Mayor John H. Wilson, who was also the Honolulu Chapter President of the American Association of Engineers, carried on Fern's dream.

Honolulu Hale was finally completed in 1928 with the help of every major architect in town—C.W. Dickey, Hart Wood, Robert Miller, and Rothwell Kangeter & Lester—but did not open for business until the following year. It was built in an Italianate Spanish Colonial Revival style that was popular in the islands at the time. Its interior courtyard, staircase, and open ceiling were modeled after the Bargello in Florence. Einar Peterson was commissioned to paint frescoes in the interior while Mario Valdastri was commissioned to install intricate stonework. In 1951, two three-story wings were added to the original structure.

A new, high-rise Honolulu Municipal Building was later constructed at 650 South King Street. In 2006, it was renamed the Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building in honor of Frank Fasi, the city's longest-serving mayor.

Surrounding Honolulu Hale are other prominent historic and artistic landmarks: Aliiōlani Hale, Hawaii State Capitol, Iolani Palace, Kawaiahao Church, Sky Gate (a 24 ft high sculpture by Isamu Noguchi), and the Territorial Building.

Gallery

Image:HonoluluHale-frontdoors.JPG|Front doors facing King Street Image:Honolulu-Hale-frontcornerview.JPG|Corner view, Punchbowl and King Streets Image:Honolulu-Hale-tower.JPG|Tower viewed from Punchbowl Street Image:HonoluluHale-dedication-plaque.JPG|Dedication plaque (1928) Image:HonoluluHale-1951wing-Punchbowl-side.JPG|New wing (1951) from Punchbowl Street Image:HonoluluHale-sidedoor.JPG|Side door of new wing on Punchbowl Street Image:Honohale-back.JPG|Rear view of new wing (1951)

References

{{NRISref
"This is Your City and County of Honolulu Government: About Honolulu Hale". Honolulu.gov.
Robert Shikina. (28 July 2006). "Fasi's imprint made permanent". Honolulu Advertiser.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

hawaiian-architecture buildings-and-structures-in-honolulu government-of-honolulu towers-in-hawaii government-buildings-in-hawaii historic-district-contributing-properties-in-hawaii government-buildings-completed-in-1928 1928-establishments-in-hawaii national-register-of-historic-places-in-honolulu city-and-town-halls-on-the-national-register-of-historic-places-in-hawaii

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