John T. Jacobsen Residence
Self-designed residence of John T. Jacobsen. Written about in 1961 <a href="https://www.docomomo-wewa.org/modern-places/pacific-architect-builder/">Pacific Architect and Builder Magazine</a> . 2189 Round Top Drive according to the Pacific Coast Architecture Database.
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
The Lum Sai Ho Tong Building
River Street, Honolulu
The first image is from 1954-1956. The other images are from 2012.<br /><br />The Lum Sai Ho Tong is a Chinese society for people with the last names Lum, Lin, or Lam (all considered the same, since the same Chinese character was used for all.) Groundbreaking for the Lum Sai Ho Tong Building was December 27, 1952 and it was dedicated on December 19, 1953. It sits on a lot of 2,229 square feet and cost $60,000. It replaced a 53-year old wooden building that had been constructed after the previous one had been damaged in the January 1900 Chinatown fire. The first floor held two retail spaces as well as living quarters for society members who lacked families. The second floor was the "Shrine of Mother Lum" (Tin Hau Temple) and a reception hall and kitchen. The third floor had a meeting / social hall. The Tin Hau Temple used rituals from both Buddhism and Taoism, and when completed was included on walking tours for tourists hosted by the Hawaii Visitors Bureau.<br /><br /><span>The front view of the Lum Sai Ho Tong Building shows its various ornate traditional Chinese elements, many of which have been modernized to fit the 1950s trends. Thin textured horizontal bricks, popular in the USA at the time, frame the other decorations on either side.<br /><br />The building was allowed to remain standing while all the buildings around it were demolished around 1962 for the Queen Emma Redevelopment Project (Urban Renewal).<br /><br />The Lum Sai Ho Tong Building's Chinese elements are only on the facade; in every other way it is a contemporary American-style structure, as this side view shows.</span>
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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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Bachman Hall
University of Hawaii at Manoa
The University of Hawaii Administration building's groundbreaking was on July 22, 1948 and it was completed around May 1949 at a cost of $379,600. It was renamed Bachman Hall on March 25, 1957 after the fifth president of the University of Hawaii, Dr. Paul S. Bachman. He had been the Dean of Faculties until he became the acting president in July or August 1955. He died unexpectedly at the age of 55 on January 9, 1957 after being in the position for only 16 months. In May 1968 during a 10-day sit-in political demonstration, protestors renamed it "Liberation Hall" on a quickly-made banner.<br /><br />The collaborating architects were Philip Clark Fisk, Allen Johnson, Vladimir Ossipoff, and Alfred E. Preis.<br /><br />The second image is a postcard of the building around 1955, before it was renamed Bachman Hall.
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DeSoto Brown
Pagoda Hotel and Restaurant
Honolulu
The Pagoda Hotel and "Floating" Restaurant was developed by H. T. Hayashi of Hayashi Enterprises, which had already constructed three buildings in the area from 1960 onwards. The Pagoda complex opened on May 2, 1964 and consisted of a 12-story hotel of 203 units, the restaurant, and a parking building with 150 spaces on a 1 1/2 acre site. Most of the site was in the Bishop Tract, but a portion was in the Kapiolani Business District and was the first development to be completed in the latter since its dedication on July 9, 1963.<br /><br /><span>Second Image: The Pagoda Restaurant seen from Rycroft Street in 1965, the year after its opening. It looks substantially similar in 2021. It was one of a number of round buildings constructed in this period.</span><br /><br /><span>Third Image: Diners in the Pagoda Restaurant looked out on a Japanese-style garden with a small artificial hill with a waterfall that ran into the pond around the building. On the hill was a 13-tiered decorative hand-carved stone pagoda ornament which was the source of the name of the complex. Beyond the garden, visible in the distance was the Ala Moana Building topped by the La Ronde Rotating Restaurant.</span>
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DeSoto Brown
Seaboard Finance Building in 1957
Kapiolani Blvd, Honolulu
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<div class="element-text">The four-story Seaboard Finance Building was dedicated March 8, 1956. The company, which had over 300 loan offices in the USA and Canada, moved from its downtown Honolulu location to provide parking for customers. <br /><br />In 1968, a two-story building was constructed behind the building with a 50-car parking lot and a ramp up to the second level with a connection to the Ala Moana Center mall level parking level (now closed). <br /><br />The second image is dated November 2019.</div>
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DeSoto Brown
Ala Moana Building [3 images]
1441 Kapiolani Blvd
Motorized Sun Control Louvers
Image 1 shows the motorized sun control louvers that were originally installed when the building was constructed. (University of Washington Libraries Collection)
Image 2 is a detail of the louvers from an advertisement by the manufacturer. (Spencer Tolley Collection)
Image 3 is the Press Release that describes the fabrication and operation of the louvers. (Spenser Tolley Collection)
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As listed in the Description above.
Waikikian Hotel
1811 Ala Moana Blvd
Reception/lobby building
The "hyberbolic paraboloid" roof of the Waikikian Hotel's lobby was a dramatic landmark in Waikiki. <br /><br />The B&W photo by Robert Wenkam is from "50s Buildings in Waikiki and Honolulu" by Mason Architects, Inc. and includes a description of the construction details. <br /><br />The Waikikian Hotel was closed in 1996 and has been demolished.
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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=1956">1956</a>
DeSoto Brown