Harris United Methodist Church seen from Nuuanu Avenue in 2021
The Harris United Methodist Church is situated so that its most dramatic view, shown here, is from the Nuuanu Avenue end.
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DeSoto Brown
Harris United Methodist Church <br />South Vineyard Blvd, Honolulu
The first image is from 1965. The other images are from 2021.<br /><br />The Harris United Methodist Church (originally the Harris Memorial Methodist Church) has been housed in a succession of buildings in downtown Honolulu since its beginning in 1887. <br /><br />In 1925, the church moved into a substantial structure at the corner of Vineyard Street and Fort Street. But in 1951 the City & County of Honolulu informed the church that this site would be condemned for the straightened and widened Vineyard Boulevard. The former Korean Methodist Church a half-block mauka on Fort Street was therefore purchased and renovated - but in October 1955, before Harris had even moved, this site was also scheduled for condemnation for the construction of what would become the bottom stretch of the Pali Highway. Harris only was able to occupy this new location for three years, from 1956 to 1959. The Honolulu Redevelopment Agency reserved the current site for Harris as this entire area was cleared for Urban Renewal, and the church was able to purchase it.<br />
<p>The Harris United Methodist Church looks substantially the same in 2021 as it had in the 1960s. Fundraising for this complex began in 1958 and its groundbreaking took place on December 25, 1960. By June 1962 the buildings were in use, and the official dedication was on August 5, 1962.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
<p>The entire site is 2 acres; the sanctuary holds 350 people and the social hall 300. There are 14 Sunday School / preschool classrooms and parking for 100 vehicles. The cost, including the land, was $750,000.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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DeSoto Brown
See Dai Doo Society Building
Kukui and Fort Streets, Chinatown
First Image: The See Dai Doo Society Building in 2021, substantially the same as it was at its opening in 1962.<br /><br /><span>Second Image: Except for the traditionally-designed Chinese cupola on the left side of the roof, the See Dai Doo Society building is otherwise a modern American-style building of its time period.<br /></span><br /><span>Third Image: Back view of the See Dai Doo Society Building. The Society is composed of people who trace their ancestry to Kwangtung Province in China. It began in Honolulu in 1901. This view shows the below-grade parking level and the first floor retail spaces. The second floor contains offices and the third is used by the Society.<br /><br />Fourth Image: Both the front and back sides of the See Dai Doo Society Building have an exterior metal mesh attached to framework. Compared to the building's appearance at its opening in 1962, the material in 2021 is more opaque and obviously is a replacement of the original.<br /><br />Fifth Image: Detail of textured cement blocks at the See Dai Doo Society Building.<br /><br />Sixth Image: The See Dai Doo Society Building at its traditional Chinese dedication, including firecrackers, on November 4, 1962. Its groundbreaking had been on September 10, 1961. It was the fifth new structure in the Queen Emma Development Project, which was part of the large federally-funded Urban Renewal project which demolished much of downtown Honolulu in the 1960s. The See Dai Doo Society's previous building just a few block away had been condemned as part of this project and it too was removed in spite of having only been built in 1950.</span>
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DeSoto Brown
First National Bank of Hawaii
165 S. King Street
<span>Architectural rendering for the headquarters of First National Bank of Hawaii (now First Hawaiian Bank) at 165 S. King Street, Honolulu.</span><br /><br /><span>At the time of its construction it was the tallest building in downtown Honolulu, at 225 feet housing 18 floors of office space. <br /><br />It was demolished by implosion in 1994 to make way for the bank's new headquarters, First Hawaiian Center.</span>
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Foster Tower Hotel
Waikiki
First Image: Rendering of the proposed building. Foster Tower began construction in August 1960, and it opened on October 19, 1962. At 25 stories it was the second-tallest building in Hawaii at the time, with the Ala Moana Building 25 feet taller although it had the same number of floors. Foster Tower contained 136 units, of which 25 were co-op apartments with the majority being hotel rooms. There were 6 units per floor, and each had a full kitchen. Its pool was on its elevated deck. A separate parking structure behind the tower had spaces for 137 vehicles. <br /><br /><span>Second image: Foster Tower seen from Waikiki Beach in May 1963. As the first tall highrise in Waikiki, surpassing the 10-story buildings already there since 1955, Foster Tower was criticized for its height and for blocking the view of Diamond Head from most of Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki. It originally had the words "Foster Tower Hotel" painted on its highest point, but they were painted over after complaints, even though they were legal in their size and placement.<br /><br />Third image: Foster Tower was so prominent in the view of Diamond Head and Waikiki that it appeared in the artwork for posters and other advertising for the 1963 Hollywood film "Diamond Head". It also was seen prominently in the background of one scene shot on the beach, although the plot of the story was supposed to be taking place in 1959 and the building had not been completed until 1962.<br /><br />Fourth image: Detail view of the wavy concrete canopy of the Foster Tower Hotel over the Kalakaua Avenue sidewalk. This wavy pattern also appeared at the 1958 Windward City Shopping Center in Kaneohe, Oahu. The holes in the canopy originally were for the trunks of coconut palms, now gone, which were already on the site when the building was constructed. Incorporating palms into sidewalk canopies was first done in 1950 for the Royal Block on Kalakaua Avenue at Lewers Street and was popular in the 1950s and '60s.<br /></span>
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DeSoto Brown
Postcard of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii.
View of the newly-opened USS Arizona Memorial.
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DeSoto Brown
Hawaiian Holiday Mural Detail
Relief mural by Hon Chew Hee at Hawaiian Holiday Apartments in Makiki
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Mike Gushard
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Hokulani Apartments [2 photos]
Photo of the Diamondhead side of Hokulani walk-up apartments illustrating the breezeways, doors and parking lot. Photo of makai elevation with sign
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St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church - Exterior Detail of Stained Glass Windows
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Fung Associates, Inc.
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St. Augustine's Roman Catholic Church - Interior - Detail of Stained Glass Window [2 photos]
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<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=40&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2012">2012</a>
Fung Associates, Inc.
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