The Hawaii State Capitol is marked by its radical departure from the traditional, dome-topped government buildings found across the United States. Completed in nineteen sixty-nine and designed by John Carl Warnecke and the firm Belt,…
Midcentury Modern Civic Center
This walk takes you through Honolulu's downtown to admire the unique tropical modernism and bold brutalist architecture from Hawaii's early statehood era.
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1. Hawaii State Capitol
2. Kalanimoku Building
The Kalanimoku Building is a rectangular government office block located on Punchbowl Street, recognizable by the four large, translucent glass mosaic murals that wrap around its fourth-floor exterior. These murals, titled "Hawaii," were…
3. Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building
The Frank F. Fasi Municipal Building is a fifteen-story office tower located at six hundred fifty South King Street in downtown Honolulu. Completed in nineteen seventy-seven, this high-rise serves as a central administrative hub for many…
4. Princess Ruth Ke'elikōlani
Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani was one of the highest-ranking and wealthiest women in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, a direct descendant of King Kamehameha the First. In eighteen eighty-three, she completed a grand Victorian mansion in downtown…
5. Princess Victoria Kamāmalu Bldg
The Princess Victoria Kamāmalu Building is a government office block located at the corner of King and Richards Street. Its concrete exterior stands out in the downtown district, marked by its history as a long-vacant site that underwent a…
6. Financial Plaza of the Pacific
The Financial Plaza of the Pacific occupies the city block between Merchant and King Streets, defined by its stark, modernist concrete towers rising from a shared, open-air plaza. Completed in nineteen sixty-eight, the complex brought…