Merchant Street Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Merchant Street Historic District in Honolulu, Hawaii
, was the city's earliest commercial center.
museum
of the city's commercial development between the 1850s and the 1930s. Its architectural styles range from nondescript 19th-century commercial through Richardsonian Romanesque
, Italianate
, and Mission Revival. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
in 1973.
Directly to the north is Chinatown
, another historic district.
at 51 Merchant Street, built in 1854 for the retail firm of Melchers and Reiner. Its original coral stone walls are no longer visible under its layers of stucco and paint, and it now houses city government offices, not private businesses.
at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets was the first building in Hawaii to be constructed entirely of precast concrete blocks reinforced with iron bars. It was built by J.G. Osborne in 1871 and the success of this new method was replicated on a much grander scale the next year in the royal palace, Aliiōlani Hale
. The old post office building was separately added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
s below an ornamental cornice
and parapet
along the roofline, all of which are obscured to some extent by its current exterior of monotone white stucco
. In 1925, Bishop Bank moved to much larger quarters along "Bankers Row" on Bishop Street, and later changed its name to First Hawaiian Bank
, now one of the largest in the state.
. In 1880, Foster had purchased the estate of the renowned botanist William Hillebrand
(1821–1886), which was bequeathed to the city as Foster Botanical Garden
at the death of his wife, Mary E. Foster (née Robinson), in 1930.
The architectural style of the two-story T.R. Foster Building resembles that of the one-story Royal Saloon Building across the street, which was built in 1890 on the site of a former corner bar. Both are modestly Italianate brick buildings, with pilasters, cornices, and balustrades along the streetside rooflines. The Royal Saloon ceased to be a bar during Prohibition
, but both buildings were renovated during the 1970s and now house O'Toole's Irish Pub and Murphy's Bar & Grill.
style that was popular when it was built in 1896. Its architects were Clinton Briggs Ripley
and his junior partner, C.W. Dickey, a well-connected local boy with a fresh degree in architecture from M.I.T., and it initially housed the executive offices of not only the Bishop Estate, but also the Charles Reed Bishop
Trust and the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Constructed of dark lava from the Estate's own quarries, its notable features include arches above the lower door and window frames, four rough stone pilaster
s on the upper level, and a corniced parapet along the roofline.
with businesslike functionalism. Designed by Oliver G. Traphagen
, newly arrived from Duluth, Minnesota
, it boasted Hawaii's first passenger elevator when it opened in 1898. A fifth floor was added on top in the 1920s, the interior was remodeled in 1979, and the ground floor has also been reconfigured. However, the exterior of the middle three floors reflects Traphagen's original design, with arched windows, simulated keystones, and decorative wreaths and floral designs. Built on land that used to house the medical offices of Dr. Gerrit P. Judd
, the new building served as the first headquarters of Alexander & Baldwin
, and also of the Bank of Hawaii
until 1927. The bank bought the building in 1998, and A&B repurchased it in 2000.
(横浜正金銀行 Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō, est. 1880) were chartered to act as agents of Imperial Japan. The Honolulu branch was the first successful Japanese bank in Hawaii. The building at 36 Merchant Street dates from 1909 and was designed by one of Honolulu's most prolific architects, Henry Livingston Kerr, who considered it not just his own finest work, but the finest in the city at the time. The brick and steel structure is L-shaped, with a corner entrance and a courtyard in back. Its Italianate
design includes a triumphal arch over the main door, copper window casings, glass wainscoting, marble trim, and paintings inside by a local artist. Bank personnel received Japanese-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and English-speaking customers in separate areas.
On the day that Pearl Harbor
was bombed, the building was taken over by the Alien Property Custodian
, the first floor became a warehouse for confiscated possessions, and extra showers, toilets, and holding cells were installed in the basement to accommodate up to 250 drunken military personnel. The bank's former customers spent years trying to get their money back, and never managed to collect interest on their old deposits until the 1960s.
The building was renovated in the 1980s by local restoration architect Spencer Leineweber and became home to Honolulu Magazine
from 1982 to 2001. It currently serves as a preschool and childcare center.
designed it in a Spanish Mission Revival style that matches very well that of the newly built city hall, Honolulu Hale
(1929). (Davis had designed the ornately Chinese New Palama Theatre two years earlier. It was leased in the 1970s to show Filipino films and renamed Zamboanga Theatre.) Building materials include 11 tons of marble from France, mahogany from the Philippines, and sandstone from Waianae. It served as the headquarters of the Honolulu Police Department
until the latter moved to the old Sears building in Pawaa in 1967. It was renovated in the 1980s and now houses other city offices.
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, was the city's earliest commercial center.
Location
Bounded roughly by Fort Street at the southeast end and Nuuanu Avenue at the northwest, its older, low-rise, brick and stone buildings, surrounded by contemporary, concrete high rises, serves as an open-air, human-scale architecturalArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
of the city's commercial development between the 1850s and the 1930s. Its architectural styles range from nondescript 19th-century commercial through Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
, Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
, and Mission Revival. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1973.
Directly to the north is Chinatown
Chinatown, Honolulu
The Chinatown Historic District is a neighborhood of Honolulu, Hawaii known for its Chinese people and is one of the oldest Chinatowns in the United States.-History:The area was probably used by fishermen during ancient Hawaii but little evidence remains...
, another historic district.
Melchers (1854)
The earliest structure is Melchers BuildingMelchers Building
The Melchers Building at 51 Merchant Street is the oldest commercial building in Downtown Honolulu. Designed in the Classical Revival style by an unknown architect, it was constructed in 1854 of white coral blocks....
at 51 Merchant Street, built in 1854 for the retail firm of Melchers and Reiner. Its original coral stone walls are no longer visible under its layers of stucco and paint, and it now houses city government offices, not private businesses.
Kamehameha V Post Office (1871)
The Kamehameha V Post OfficeKamehameha V Post Office
Kamehameha V Post Office at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets in Honolulu, Hawaii was the first building in the Hawaiian Islands to be constructed entirely of precast concrete blocks reinforced with iron bars. It was built by J.G. Osborne in 1871 and the success of this new method was...
at the corner of Merchant and Bethel Streets was the first building in Hawaii to be constructed entirely of precast concrete blocks reinforced with iron bars. It was built by J.G. Osborne in 1871 and the success of this new method was replicated on a much grander scale the next year in the royal palace, Aliiōlani Hale
Aliiolani Hale
Aliiōlani Hale is a building located in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii, currently used as the home of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. It is the former seat of government of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii....
. The old post office building was separately added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Bishop Bank (1878)
The Bishop Bank Building at 63 Merchant Street was the earliest of the Italianate (or Renaissance Revival) structures on the street, built in 1878 and designed by Thomas J. Baker (one of the architects of Iolani Palace). Its distinctive features include a corner entrance, arched windows and doors, fine masonry work, and brick pilasterPilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s below an ornamental cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
and parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
along the roofline, all of which are obscured to some extent by its current exterior of monotone white stucco
Stucco
Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...
. In 1925, Bishop Bank moved to much larger quarters along "Bankers Row" on Bishop Street, and later changed its name to First Hawaiian Bank
First Hawaiian Bank
First Hawaiian Bank is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii at the First Hawaiian Center. It is a subsidiary of BancWest Corporation, which itself is a subsidiary of the French banking company, BNP Paribas...
, now one of the largest in the state.
T.R. Foster Building (1891)
The T.R. Foster Building at 902 Nuuanu Avenue was built by Thomas R. Foster, one of the founders (in 1882) of the Inter-Island Steam Navigation CompanyInter-Island Steam Navigation Company
Inter-Island Steam Navigation Company was the company headquartered in Honolulu that ran steam boat service between Hawaiian cities from 1883 until 1947. On January 30, 1929 company founded the subsidiary company Inter-Island Airways that was later renamed to Hawaiian Airlines...
. In 1880, Foster had purchased the estate of the renowned botanist William Hillebrand
William Hillebrand
William Hillebrand was a German physician. He traveled the world, including over 20 years in the Hawaiian islands. In 1850, Hillebrand lived at what is now Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu. He also became known as a botanist.-Life and career:...
(1821–1886), which was bequeathed to the city as Foster Botanical Garden
Foster Botanical Garden
Foster Botanical Garden, measuring 13.5 acres , is one of three botanical gardens located at 50 North Vineyard Boulevard, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA...
at the death of his wife, Mary E. Foster (née Robinson), in 1930.
The architectural style of the two-story T.R. Foster Building resembles that of the one-story Royal Saloon Building across the street, which was built in 1890 on the site of a former corner bar. Both are modestly Italianate brick buildings, with pilasters, cornices, and balustrades along the streetside rooflines. The Royal Saloon ceased to be a bar during Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, but both buildings were renovated during the 1970s and now house O'Toole's Irish Pub and Murphy's Bar & Grill.
Bishop Estate (1896)
The bare stone face of the tiny Bishop Estate Building at 71 Merchant Street is a fine example of the stolid Richardsonian RomanesqueRichardsonian Romanesque
Richardsonian Romanesque is a style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after architect Henry Hobson Richardson, whose masterpiece is Trinity Church, Boston , designated a National Historic Landmark...
style that was popular when it was built in 1896. Its architects were Clinton Briggs Ripley
Clinton Briggs Ripley
Clinton Briggs Ripley was an American architect active in Honolulu, Hawaii, from the 1890s until the 1920s. He arrived from California in 1891 at the age of 42, became Commissioner of Patents in 1894, then formed a partnership with a junior but well-connected local architect, C.W...
and his junior partner, C.W. Dickey, a well-connected local boy with a fresh degree in architecture from M.I.T., and it initially housed the executive offices of not only the Bishop Estate, but also the Charles Reed Bishop
Charles Reed Bishop
Charles Reed Bishop was a businessman and philanthropist in Hawaii.Born in Glens Falls, New York, he sailed to Hawaii in 1846 at the age of 24, and made his home there. Bishop was one of the first trustees of and a major donor to the Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii...
Trust and the Bernice P. Bishop Museum. Constructed of dark lava from the Estate's own quarries, its notable features include arches above the lower door and window frames, four rough stone pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s on the upper level, and a corniced parapet along the roofline.
Judd Building (1898)
The Judd Building at the corner of Merchant and Fort Streets combines elegant features of Italianate architectureItalianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
with businesslike functionalism. Designed by Oliver G. Traphagen
Oliver G. Traphagen
Oliver G. Traphagen was an American architect who designed many notable buildings in Duluth, Minnesota during the late 19th century and in the Territory of Hawaii during the early 20th century. Among his most famous landmarks are the Oliver G...
, newly arrived from Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
, it boasted Hawaii's first passenger elevator when it opened in 1898. A fifth floor was added on top in the 1920s, the interior was remodeled in 1979, and the ground floor has also been reconfigured. However, the exterior of the middle three floors reflects Traphagen's original design, with arched windows, simulated keystones, and decorative wreaths and floral designs. Built on land that used to house the medical offices of Dr. Gerrit P. Judd
Gerrit P. Judd
Gerrit Parmele Judd was an American physician and missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii who later became a trusted advisor and cabinet minister to King Kamehameha III.- Life :...
, the new building served as the first headquarters of Alexander & Baldwin
Alexander & Baldwin
Following World War II, the company entered a new business: land development and real estate. The company formed a new subsidiary, the Kahului Development Co., to develop housing in the Kahului area. In the following years, the company became more involved in the development of its land and the...
, and also of the Bank of Hawaii
Bank of Hawaii
The Bank of Hawaii Corporation is a regional commercial bank headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii. It is Hawaii's second oldest bank and its largest locally owned bank in that majority of the voting stockholders reside within the state...
until 1927. The bank bought the building in 1998, and A&B repurchased it in 2000.
Yokohama Specie Bank (1909)
Overseas branches of the Yokohama Specie BankYokohama Specie Bank
is a Japanese bank founded in Yokohama, Japan in the year 1880. It later became The Bank of Tokyo, Ltd. in 1947. The bank played a significant role in Japanese trade with China...
(横浜正金銀行 Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō, est. 1880) were chartered to act as agents of Imperial Japan. The Honolulu branch was the first successful Japanese bank in Hawaii. The building at 36 Merchant Street dates from 1909 and was designed by one of Honolulu's most prolific architects, Henry Livingston Kerr, who considered it not just his own finest work, but the finest in the city at the time. The brick and steel structure is L-shaped, with a corner entrance and a courtyard in back. Its Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
design includes a triumphal arch over the main door, copper window casings, glass wainscoting, marble trim, and paintings inside by a local artist. Bank personnel received Japanese-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and English-speaking customers in separate areas.
On the day that Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
was bombed, the building was taken over by the Alien Property Custodian
Alien Property Custodian
An Alien Property Custodian was an office within the Government of the United States during World War I and again during World War II, serving as a Custodian of Enemy Property to property that belonged to US enemies.-World War I:...
, the first floor became a warehouse for confiscated possessions, and extra showers, toilets, and holding cells were installed in the basement to accommodate up to 250 drunken military personnel. The bank's former customers spent years trying to get their money back, and never managed to collect interest on their old deposits until the 1960s.
The building was renovated in the 1980s by local restoration architect Spencer Leineweber and became home to Honolulu Magazine
Honolulu Magazine
-History:In 1888, when Hawaii was still a monarchy, King Kalākaua commissioned a magazine under royal charter to be Hawaii's ambassador to the world. That magazine was Paradise of the Pacific. For nearly a century, Paradise of the Pacific promoted local business and tourism by assuring citizens of...
from 1982 to 2001. It currently serves as a preschool and childcare center.
Honolulu Police Station (1931)
The last significant old structure in the district was the old Honolulu Police Station at 842 Bethel Street, which occupies the whole block of Merchant Street between Bethel Street and Nuuanu Avenue. Built in 1931 at a cost of $235,000, it replaced an earlier brick building on the same site that dated from 1885, during the era of the notorious Walter Murray Gibson, so the new structure is also known as the Walter Murray Gibson Building. Architect Louis DavisLouis Davis (architect)
Louis E. Davis was an American architect who designed homes and public buildings in Honolulu, Hawaii. During the 1920s, he was involved in laying out the new King Street campus of President William McKinley High School and designing its buildings in a Spanish Colonial Revival style...
designed it in a Spanish Mission Revival style that matches very well that of the newly built city hall, Honolulu Hale
Honolulu Hale
Honolulu Hale , located on 530 South King Street in downtown Honolulu in the City & County of Honolulu, Hawaii, is the official seat of government of the city and county, site of the chambers of the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu City Council.In the Hawaiian language, hale means house or building...
(1929). (Davis had designed the ornately Chinese New Palama Theatre two years earlier. It was leased in the 1970s to show Filipino films and renamed Zamboanga Theatre.) Building materials include 11 tons of marble from France, mahogany from the Philippines, and sandstone from Waianae. It served as the headquarters of the Honolulu Police Department
Honolulu Police Department
The Honolulu Police Department is the principal law enforcement agency of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawai'i, headquartered in the Alapa'i Police Headquarters in Honolulu CDP....
until the latter moved to the old Sears building in Pawaa in 1967. It was renovated in the 1980s and now houses other city offices.