Honolulu Hale

From dKosopedia

Honolulu Hale at the corner of King and Punchbowl Streets.

Honolulu Hale, houses the Office of the Mayor of Honolulu and the Honolulu City Council chambers. Located in the Civic Center of Honolulu, Honolulu Hale stands across the street from the Kawaiha'o Church, the Main Branch of the Hawaii State Library and Aliiolani Hale.

In a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article dated May 9, 2004, Honolulu Hale was described:

City Hall, or Honolulu Hale, was created to house all of Honolulu's municipal activities, and had an honor roll of Hawaii architects involved. Of all the Mediterranean-influenced official structures in downtown Honolulu, this is the most conspicuously Italianate -- the stonework trim of the interior courtyard, open to Hawaiian climates, was designed to remind visitors of an Italian bargello. Most of the decoration was created by imported Italian sculptor Mario Valdastri. The rear of the courtyard is surmounted by a grand double stairway and wraparound mezzanine in a vaguely Medieval motif.

Opened for business on Nov. 26, 1929, City Hall is a four-story rectangle with a six-story tower at the rear, making the building look vaguely like a fire station. The main entry faces King Street, behind a zig-zag pattern of planters (for security reasons) and the exterior of the building is complex, with deeply fenestrated windows and balconies of carved stone. The tower is particularly complex and features varied window treatments, open and closed balconies, loggias and cast-concrete grill work.

Honolulu Hale is listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the United States Department of Interior. Hale, in the Hawaiian language, means house or home.

External Links

• Burlingame, Burl. Honolulu Hale has a strong Mediterranean look Honolulu Star-Bulletin, May 9, 2004.
• Lum, Curtis. stop for some: Honolulu Hale Honolulu Advertiser, March 28, 2006.
• Dingeman, Robbie. City Hall overhaul getting expensive Honolulu Advertiser, August 25, 2006.