The Kaua‘i Historical Society – Special to The Garden Island LIHU‘E — The Nineteith Anniversary of the Kaua‘i County Building and the Kaua‘i Historical Society is being celebrated today. The public is invited to an open house at the County
The Kaua‘i Historical Society – Special to The Garden Island
LIHU‘E — The Nineteith Anniversary of the Kaua‘i County Building and the Kaua‘i Historical Society is being celebrated today.
The public is invited to an open house at the County Building, an historical photo display in the building’s lobby and a display of historical Kaua‘i County ledgers in the Council Chambers.
At 10 a.m. the tour of the County Building begins. At noon emcee David Penhallow is to introduce chanter Kumu Hula Kapu Alquiza, to be followed with a blessing by Kahu Nani Hill.
Dignitaries having a role in the ceremony are to include Mayor Bryan Baptiste, Council Chair Bill “Kaipo” Asing, Historical Society representative Malvin Dohrinan, Kaua‘i County Building Restoration Committee member, and wife of the late Mayor Tony Kunimura, Phyllis Kunimura, Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura.
The Kaua‘i County Building was constructed in 1913 by the Territory of Hawaii, and is the oldest county building in Hawai‘i with continuous county government use. Today the building houses the County Clerk, the Kaua‘i Historical Society and the offices and chambers of the County Council.
At its opening, the building was home to the Kaua‘i County Board of Supervisors, who had purchased five acres of land from Lihue Plantation for the site of the building at $500 per acre. Prior to the 1960s Kaua‘i had no mayor, and the county administration was run by the Board of Supervisors.
The building was formally opened on May 9, 1914, just 2 days after the founding of Kaua‘i Historical Society.
The Kaua‘i County Building was added to the National and State Registers of Historic Places in 1981, along with the Annex and the Lihu‘e Court House and the surrounding grounds as the Lihu‘e Civic Center Historic District. As one of the few historic listing on Kaua‘i to be on the registers, the site is deemed worthy of protection, preservation and significant to the island’s architectural and historic landscape.
The Kaua‘i County Building Restoration Committee was created in 1982, when newly elected Mayor, and Mrs. Tony Kunimura brought together interested community members to help return the County Building to it’s historical accuracy. While Mayor Kunimura helped to raise the necessary funds, which were processed by the Kaua‘i Historical Society, the Restoration Committee started researching the original design of the building. They discovered that the architect, Clinton B. Ripley, had designed a very efficient building with large simple rooms, high ceilings and transoms above windows and doors which allowed warm air to pass up through the skylight in the central lobby, keeping the offices comfortable for county workers.
During the 1960’s, during Mayor Antone Vidinha’s term, the building went under a redecorating process to modernize it. False lowered ceilings, florescent lighting, louvered windows, vinyl tiles, wooden railings, painted staircases replaced the original and historic interiors of this grand building. While the interior walls were painted in pastel colors with brocade curtains at the windows, the majestic outside was painted pink.
