Merchant Street Historic District
Merchant Street Historic District | |
Honolulu, Hawaii | |
Coordinates | 21°18′33″N 157°51′47″W / 21.30917°N 157.86306°W |
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Area | 7 acres (2.8 ha) |
Built | 1850s to 1930s |
Architect | Various |
Architectural style | Varied |
NRHP reference No. | 73000661[1] |
Added to NRHP | June 19, 1973 |
The Merchant Street Historic District in
Location
Bounded roughly by Fort Street at the southeast end and Nuʻuanu 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
Notable buildings
Melchers (1854)
The earliest structure is
Kamehameha V Post Office (1871)
The
Bishop Bank (1878)
The Bishop Bank Building at 63 Merchant Street was the earliest of the Italianate (or
T.R. Foster Building (1891)
The T.R. Foster Building at 902 Nuʻuanu Avenue was built by
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.[5]
Bishop Estate (1896)
The bare stone face of the tiny Bishop Estate Building at 71 Merchant Street is a fine example of the stolid
Judd Building (1898)
The Judd Building at the corner of Merchant and Fort Streets combines elegant features of Italianate architecture 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,[7] 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.[8]
Yokohama Specie Bank (1909)
Overseas branches of the
On the day that
The building was renovated in the 1980s by local restoration architect Spencer Leineweber and became home to
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
Gallery
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A photograph of Merchant Street in the 1890s
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Melcher Building, 1854
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Bishop Bank Building, 1878
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Royal Saloon Building, 1890
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T.R. Foster Building, 1891
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Bishop Estate Building, 1896
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Judd Building, 1898
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Yokohama Specie Bank Building, 1909
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Facade above front entrance, Yokohama Specie Bank Building, 1909
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Old Police Station (front), 1931
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Old Police Station (rear), 1931
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ Burl Burlingame (October 19, 2003). "Melchers is Honolulu's oldest commercial building". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ Burl Burlingame (October 12, 2003). "Monotone paint job mars Bishop Bank's fine detail". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi (July 13, 2008). "Hawaii's Back Yard: Foster Botanical Garden oasis amid bustling downtown Oahu". Retrieved June 8, 2009.
- ^ Burl Burlingame (November 23, 2003). "Murphy's claims site long home to drinking establishments". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ Burl Burlingame (October 5, 2003). "Bishop building is a gem of Victorian-era design". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ Wilcox, Gaylord (1972). Business and Buildings: Downtown Honolulu's Old Fashioned Block Hawaiian Journal of History 6:3-27.
- ^ Burl Burlingame (September 21, 2003). "Judd Building had Hawaii's first passenger elevator". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ a b Burl Burlingame (November 9, 2003). "Building's corner entry even grander than most". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ A. Kam Napier (August 2004). "Our Town: Yokohama Specie Bank Building". Honolulu Magazine.
- ^ a b Burl Burlingame (November 16, 2003). "Lavish doors, windows were used at ornate police station". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- ^ "Cinema Treasures: Zamboanga Theatre". Retrieved June 9, 2009.
- Sandler, Rob, Julie Mehta, and Frank S. Haines (2008). Architecture in Hawai‘i: A Chronological Survey, new edition. Honolulu: Mutual Publishing. ISBN 978-1-56647-873-1
External links
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