Missionary and Merchant Honolulu

The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives is defined by a cluster of three distinct buildings built between eighteen twenty-one and eighteen forty-one, each showcasing a different material approach to life in the islands. The…

Kawaiahaʻo Church is distinguished by walls constructed from fourteen thousand slabs of coral rock. These blocks, some weighing as much as one thousand pounds, were harvested by Hawaiian divers who chiseled them by hand from offshore reefs…

The Kapuāiwa Building is defined by its exterior walls of rusticated concrete blocks, which create a rough, textured surface across the two-story structure. Completed in eighteen eighty-four during the reign of King Kalākaua, the building…

Sixty-three Merchant Street is a two-story structure now known as the Harriet Bouslog Building. You can identify it by its corner entrance and the Italianate style, which features arched windows and doors. Although modern white stucco…

The Melchers Building at fifty-one Merchant Street is identifiable as the oldest commercial structure in Honolulu. Built in eighteen fifty-four, it stands as a quiet, two-story relic of the city’s early mercantile era. While its outer…

The Kamehameha V Post Office stands at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets as the oldest surviving public building in the United States constructed with reinforced concrete. Completed in eighteen seventy-one, the structure was the…

The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is defined by its thick, light-colored walls built from coral blocks harvested from the shores of Kakaʻako. Dedicated on August fifteen, eighteen forty-three, this structure stands in the heart…

Washington Place is a two-and-a-half-story Greek Revival mansion defined by its exterior walls of coral stone, wooden upper framing, and wide verandas that wrap around the house. Built between eighteen forty-four and eighteen forty-seven…