Historic Honolulu

 Hello All,
Before I moved out here I found this Historic Honolulu walk that I had printed out but I never had the chance to do it.  Since I had a free day I decided to do it.  My printout had descriptions of each place so I've added those below the pictures.  Enjoy the pictures.

The first stop was St. Andrew's Church.  I came here my first semester for my music class to learn how to ring the bells in the bell tower (which is the tall building to the left).
The Hawaiian monarchs were greatly influenced by the royals in Europe.  When King Kamehameha IV saw the granduer of the Church of England, he decided to build his own cathedral.  He and Queen Emma founded the Anglican Church of Hawaii in 1858.  The king, however, didn't live to see the church completed; he died on St. Andrew's Day, 4 years before King Kamehameha V oversaw the laying of the cornerstone in 1867.  The church was named St. Andrew's in honor of King Kamehameha IV's death.  This French-Gothic structure was shipped in pieces from England and reassembled here.  There are floor-to-eaves hand-blown stained glass windows that face the sun setting.  In the glass is a mural of Reverend Thomas Staley, the first bishop of Hawaii; King Kamehameha IV; and Queen Emma.  

 The next stop happens to be right down the street from St. Andrew's and that is Washington Place.
Once the residence of the Governor of Hawaii, it nevertheless occupies a distinguished place in Hawaii's history.  The Greek revival-style home, built in 1842 by a U.S. sea captain named John Dominis, got its name from the U.S. ambassador who once stayed there and told so many stories about President George Washington that people started calling the home Washington Place.  The sea captain's son, also named John, married a beautiful Hawaiian princess, Lydia Kapaakea, who later became Hawaii's last queen, Liliuokalani.  When the queen was overthrown by U.S. businessmen in 1893, she moved out of Iolani Palace and into her husband's inherited home, Washington Place, where she lived until her death in 1917.

 On the left side of the building, near the sidewalk, is a plaque inscribed with the words to one of the most popular songs written by Queen Liliuokalani, "Aloha Oe" ("Farewell to Thee").

 Next I walked across Beretania towards the state capitol.  For the 50th anniversary of statehood for Hawaii they had these giant bronze coins that hang on either side of the capitol.

 This is the Father Damien Statue that stands in front of the State Capitol.
The people of Hawaii have never forgotten the sacrifice this Belgian priest made to help the sufferers of leprosy when he volunteered to work with them in exile on the Kalaupapa Penninsula on the island of Molokai.  After 16 years of service, Father Damien died of leprosy, at the age of 49.  The statue is frequently draped in leis in recognition of Father Damien's humanitarian work.

 Here's a bigger picture of the State Capitol.  I have another picture further down so you can get a better idea of how big it is.
Here's where Hawaii's state legislators work from mid-January to the end of April every year.  This is not your typical white dome structure, but a building symbolic of Hawaii.  Unfortunately, it symbolizes more of hawaii than the architect and the state legislature probably bargained for.  The building's unusual design has palm tree-shaped pillars, two cone-shaped chambers (representing volcanoes) for the legislative bodies, and in the inner courtyard, a 600,000-tile mosaic of the sea (Aquarius) created by a local artist.  A reflecting pool (representing the sea) surrounds the entire structure.  Like a lot of things in Hawaii, it was a great idea, but no one considered logistics.  The reflecting pond also draws brackish water, which rusts the hardware; when it rains, water pouts into the rotunda, dampening government business; and the Aquarius floor mosaic become so damaged by the elements that it became a hazard.  In the 1990s, the entire building (built in 1969) was closed for a couple of years for renovations, forcing the legislature to set up temporary quarters in several buildings.  

 This is a replica of the Liberty Bell that was given to the state of Hawaii in 1959.

 This is the open rotunda of the State Capitol building.  Every once and a while I bring over paperwork to the Lieutenant Governor's office.  There are some awesome views from up there and that's part of the reason I love going over there.

 Walking out the back of the State Capitol there is a statue of Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii's last queen.

 The next stop was Iolani Palace.  The palace grounds are surrounded by fences and the gates have these plaques on them.  The grounds are open everyday to anyone.

 Hawaii is the only state in the U.S. to have not one, but two royal palaces; one in Kona (on the Big Island), where the royals went during the summer, and Iolani Palace.  
In ancient times a heiau (temple) stood in this area.  When it became cleat to King Kamehameha III that the capital should be transferred from Lahaina to Honolulu, he moved to a modest building here in 1845.  The construction of the palace was undertaken by King David Kalakaua and was begun in 1879; it was finished 3 years later at a cost of $350,000.  The king spared no expense: You can still see the glass and iron work imported from San Francisco.  The palace has all the modern conveniences of its time: Electric lights were installed 4 years before the White House had them; every bedroom had its own full bathroom with hot and cold running water and copper-lined tub, a flush toilet, and a bidet.  The kind had a telephone line from the palace to his boathouse on the water a year after Alexander Graham Bell introduced it to the world.
It was also in this palace that Queen Liliuokalani was overthrown and placed under house arrest for 9 months.  Later, the territorial and then the state government used the palace until it outgrew it.  When the legislature left in 1968, the palace was in shambles and has since undergone a $7 million overhaul to restore it to its former glory.

 I had never been inside Iolani Palace so on my day out this was one of the things I did.  You can't take pictures in the palace but I'll just tell you that it is beautiful.  In the basement they have a display that explains all the steps in the restoration.  When the Hawaiian Monarchy was overthrown all the pictures and furnishings that weren't going to be used by legislation were auctioned off or given away.  Slowly things have been returned but there are still many pieces they are still looking for.

 The Iolani Palace Grounds was the next part of the tour after Iolani Palace.
The domed pavillion on the grounds was originally built as a Coronation Stand by King Kalakaua (9 years after he took the throne, he decided to have a formal European-style coronation ceremony where he crowned himself and his queen, Kapiolani).  Later he used it as a Royal Bandstand for concerts (King Kalakaua, along with Henri Berger, the 1st Hawaiian Bandmaster, wrote "Hawaii Pono'i," the state anthem).  Today the Royal Bandstand is still used for concerts by the Royal Hawaiian Band.  On the other side of the palace is the more modern building, State Archives, that was built in 1953.  It holds records, documents, and photos of Hawaii's people and its history.

Across King Street from Iolani Palace is the statue of King Kamehameha.  I learned at the Mission Houses Museum that King Street used to be called King's Path.  The king and his court would travel along King's Path to go to Waikiki.

 This is the replica of the man who united the Hawaiian islands.  The striking black-and-gold bronze statue is magnificent.  The best day to see the statue is on June 11 (King Kamehameha Day), when it is covered with leis in honor of Hawaii's favorite son.
The statue of Kamehameha I was cast by Thomas Gould in 1880 in Paris.  However, it was lost at sea somewhere near the Falkland Islands.  Subsequently, the insurance money was used to pay for a second statue, but in the meantime, the original statue was recovered.  The original was eventually sent to the town of Kapaau of the Big Island, the birthplace of Kamehameha, and the second statue was placed in Honolulu in 1883, as part of King David Kalakaua's coronation ceremony.  A third statue (all three are very different, but they were supposedly all cast from same mold) was sent to Washington D.C., when Hawaii became a state in 1959.

 Aliiolani Hale is the building behind the King Kamehameha statue which happened to be the next stop.
This "House of heavenly Kings," with its distinctive clock tower, now houses the State Judiciary Building.  King Kamehameha V originally wanted to build a palace here and commissioned the Australian architect.  Thomas Rowe in 1872.  However, it ended up as the first major government building for the Hawaiian monarchy.  Kamehameha V didn't live to see it completed, and King David Kalakaua dedicated the building in 1874.  Ironically, less than 20 years later, on January 17, 1893, Stanford Dole, backed by other prominent sugar planters, stood on the steps to this building and proclaimed the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy and the establishment of a provisional government.

 The next stop on the tour was Kawaiahao Church.  We sat in front of this church for the Christmas Lights Parade.
When the missionaries came to Hawaii, the first thing they did was build churches.  Four thatched grass churches had been built on this site through 1837 before Rev. Hiram Bingham began building what he considered a "real" church -- a New England-style congregational structure with Gothic influences.  Between 1837 and 1842, the building of the church required some 14,000 giant coral slabs (some weighing more than 1,000 lbs).  Hawaiian divers literally raped the reefs, digging out huge chunks of coral and causing irreparable environmental damage.
Kawaiahao is Hawaii's oldest church, and it has been the site of numerous historical events, such as a speech made by King Kamehameha III in 1843, and excerpt from which became Hawaii's state motto ("Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono," which translates as "The life of the land is preserved in righteousness").
The clock tower in the church, which was donated by King Kamehameha III and installed in 1850, continues to tick today.

 My next stop was the Mission Houses Museum.  I had lunch in the courtyard and then took a tour of the houses.

 These are the original buildings of the Sandwich Islands Mission Headquarters.  The house to the far left is the Frame House (built in 1821).  The house to the far right is the Chamberlain House (built in 1831).  The building in the middle is the Printing Office (built in 1841).
Believe it or not, the missionaries brought their own prefab house along with them when they came around Cape Horn from Boston in 1819.  The Frame House was designed for frigid New England winters and had small windows.  Finished in 1921 (the interior frame was left behind and didn't arrive until Christmas 1920), it is Hawaii's oldest wooden structure.  The Chamberlain House, built in 1931, was used by the missionaries as a storehouse.
The missionaries believed that the best way to spread the Lord's message to the Hawaiians was to learn their language and then to print literature for them to read.  So it was the missionaries who gave the Hawaiians a written language.  The Printing House on the grounds was where the lead-type Ramage press printed the Hawaiian Bible.

 Across the street from the church is Honolulu Hale.  This is where they put the giant Christmas tree, Santa, and Mele.
The Honolulu City Hall, built in 1927, was designed by Honolulu's most famous architect, C.W. Dickey.  His Spanish mission-style building has an open-air courtyard, whish is used for art exhibits and concerts.
The next stop was the State Library.  I took a picture of it but it didn't really turn out.
Anything you want to know about Hawaii and the Pacific can be found here, the main branch of the state's library system.  Located in a restored historic building, it has an open garden courtyard in the middle, great for stopping for a rest.

 The next stop on the tour was Kalanimoku.
The beautiful name, "Ship of Heaven," has been given to this dour state office building.  Here you can get information on hiking and camping (from the Department of Land and Natural Resources) in the state parks.

 Here's the State Capitol again.  I had to walk back past it on my way to the last stop on my tour.  This building in huge.

 The last stop on my tour was the Hawaii State Art Museum.  I got there 15 minutes before they closed so I was not able to go look around but I can always do that another day since its only about a block away from where I live.
Opened in 2002, the hawaii State Art Museum is housed in the original Royal Hawaiian Hotel built in 1872, during the reign of King Kamehameha V.  All of the 360 works currently displayed were created by artists who live in Hawaii.  The pieces were purchased by the state thanks to a 1967 law that says that 1% of the cost of state buildings will be used to acquire works of art.  Nearly 4 decades later, the state has amassed some 5,000 pieces.  The current exhibit depicts Hawaii, its history, culture, and ideals, through a variety of mediums.

This concludes my Historic Honolulu walking tour.  Hope you enjoyed the pictures.  Sending you warm wishes and aloha kisses.