Three Hawaiian Eras

The Hawaiian island chain has experienced a tumultuous two centuries, probably equal in change to that of California. From informal tribes to a unified island nation to occupied military industrial outpost to international beach holiday mecca. Since the later 1800s, era upon era has convulsed and transformed and reorganized and ruptured this land. And many of these eras are still visible, overlaid in a fascinating historical palimpsest on the ilsand of Oahu, the most populous island of Hawaii, home to cosmopolitan Waikiki and the capital city, Honolulu.

Three buildings illustrate three of the many eras of evolving Hawaiian history. The first, and oldest, is Iolani Palace, in downtown Honolulu. It is America's only royal palace, and it was home to Hawaii's royal family for just over a decade before American interests took over the island in a permanent occupation. The palace is like an Anglo-tropical palazzo, part plantation house, part government office. Completed in 1882, today it's mostly empty of furnishings but the interiors are exquisite. The 2-story palace has an interesting plan, with a central stair hall and stacked porches on all 4 sides which are not continuous but rather terminate in corner towers.

 

 

The second building is Shangri-La, the seaside house that Doris Duke spent a few years building an a lifetime furnishing. Doris Duke was heir to energy and tobacco fortunes - Duke University is named for her father. Doris Duke fell in love with Islamic art on a round-the-world honeymoon, which was routed through Hawaii. Built in 1937, the house has gorgeous views of the Pacific and Diamond Head (crater). Its rooms and furnishings and interior architecture are stunning. Immaculate craftsmanship, details at once sensuous and cerebral. The division between indoors and outdoors dissolves in the salty air. A thoughtful sequence takes you from the parking court, through a sentinaled portal, down through a stair hall, then a tall courtyard, and into a fabulous living room which overlooks the Pacific and formal terraced gardens. Throughout, plain white walls are juxtaposed with intricate wood ceilings, ornate plasterwork, and richly colored tilework.

The third building is the Byodo-in Temple, located in the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. It's a replica of the 950 year-old Byodo-in Temple in Uji, Japan. The setting is dramatic, about a mile in from the ocean and at the foot of fiercely jagged mountains. The grounds are populated with black swans, happy birds and giant koi. It was established in 1968 to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii. Yes there's a three ton bell and a three meter tall gold lacquered Buddha. But I think the temple is best viewed from across the pond - far enough away to not be bothered by the awkward architectural interpretation delivered by late-60's modernism.

 

These three buildings illustrate, in microcosm, how forms and ideas spread across oceans and civilizations long before the internet or globalization. They mark how people travel across wide distances and foreign lands, and how they attempt to remember where they've been, and what they've seen, and how they want to be seen and be remembered. How else would an antebellum mansion, a Persian court, and a Buddhist temple come to call this mid-pacific island home?