Hawaiian Hall Architecture
Construction on Hawaiian Hall, designed by Clinton Ripley and Charles Dickey, began in 1899. Designed in a Romanesque Revivial style, the building cost approximately $62,000 and was paid for by our founder, Charles Reed Bishop. When the hall opened in 1903, it did not have electricity. Instead, the skylight and windows provided natural light for the hall. These were eventually covered in the 1960s due to conservation advances and the need to prevent damage from sunlight. The skylight was refitted to modern museum standards by Glenn Mason Architects during the Hawaiian Hall restoration project, completed in 2009.
The large cases on all three floors are made of Hawaiian koa wood and were fabricated in Stillwater, Minnesota. These custom-designed cabinets were technologically advanced for their time, having special locks and air seals, and cost more than half the amount of the building itself.
The pillars and railings on each floor have a different Hawaiian motif. The first floor pillars have a maile design with kukui nuts and leaves adorning the capitals. Kukui nuts were often burned for illumination. The second floor pillars have a kapa (barkcloth) pattern, with ulu (breadfruit) on the capitals, while the second floor railings feature the Hawaiian coat of arms. On the third floor, the railings and capitals have a kalo (taro) motif. The kalo plant was the first born child of the gods and the elder brother to the Hawaiian people.
The Hawaiian motifs continue through the arches on the walls near the ceiling. The carved figures on the crowns above the arches are replicas of an actual image in the Museum's collection called Kalaipahoa, a poison god.
While designed as an outstanding example of 19th century Victorian architecture, the internal elements of this nationally-recognized historic place root Hawaiian Hall firmly within the Hawai'i's architectural and cultural landscape.