Aliiōlani Hale . It is a building located in downtown Honolulu , Hawaii , used today as the seat of the Hawaii State Supreme Court . It was previously the seat of government for the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii . In the gardens of the building stands the famous Kamehameha gold leaf statue of Kamehameha the Great.
Summary
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- 1 Story
- 2 Monarchical period
- 3 Overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy
- 4 Ali’iōlani Hale from 1900
- 5 Curiosities
- 6 Source
History
The Aliiōlani Hale was originally designed in neoclassical , Renaissance-style architecture as King Kamehameha V’s royal palace . In Hawaiian language , Aliʻiōlani Hale means “House of the Celestial King”; in addition to being Aliiōlani one of the first names of King Kamehameha V.
Monarchical period
Despite the fact that the building was designed as a palace, Kamehameha V realized that the Hawaiian government urgently needed a government building. At that time, the various buildings the government used in Honolulu were very small and narrow, making them entirely inappropriate for the growing Hawaiian government. For this reason, when Kamehameha V ordered the construction of the Aliʻiōlani Hale, he commissioned it to be a government building and not a palace.
Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone on February 19 , 1872 . He passed away before it was finished, being consecrated in 1874 by one of his successors, King David Kalākaua . The newspapers of the time criticized the extravagant design of the building, suggesting that it be converted into a palace, as it had originally been designed.
Until 1893 , the building housed most of the executive departments of the Hawaiian government, in addition to the Hawaiian legislature and courts.
Overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy
It was at Aliiōlani Hale in 1893 from where the Committee of Safety Safety Committee, under the command of Lorrin A. Thurston , that he deposed the Lili’uokalani Queen Liliuokalani , by popular proclamation and ordered the United States Marine Corps to withdraw from his post to the queen in power by force. A resolution passed by the United States Congress in 1993 and signed by the President of the United States , Bill Clinton , declared that the use of military force by the United States in 1893 had been illegal.
Following the establishment of the Provisional Government of Hawaii in 1893 and the Republic of Hawaii in 1894 , some of the Aliiōlani Hale’s offices were moved to the ‘Iolani Palace , including the Hawaiian Legislative Assembly. Consequently, Aliiolani Hale became primarily a judicial building.
Ali’iōlani Hale from 1900
Regardless, the growing Hawaii government continued to be a problem for the building, especially after it became U.S. territory in 1900 . In 1911 , the building underwent extensive renovation with the intention of solving these space problems. The interior part was completely thrown away and rebuilt, giving it a new distribution. Since it was originally designed as a palace, it was not suitable for the subsequent use made of it as a judicial building. This problem ended with the new internal layout.
The dimensions of territorial government continued to increase. In the 1940s , a new wing was added, to alleviate the growing problem of saturation. The architects responsible for the design of the new wing attempted to merge it with the original building, which dated from the 1870s .
Over the following decades, most state magistrates moved from Aliiōlani Hale to various buildings in Honolulu, including the state, family and circuit district courts. Today, it houses the Supreme Court of the state of Hawaii and is the administrative center of the state magistracy. It also houses the Hawaiian Magistrates Historical Center , a museum that offers a multimedia presentation of the Hawaiian magistracy, a restored historic courtroom, and other displays relating to the judicial history of Hawaii. The building also houses Hawaii’s largest legal library.
In December 2005 , the Joint Military Prisoner of War Command and Administration used radar systems to locate a time capsule that Kamehameha V buried there on February 19 , 1872 . According to records of the time, the capsule contains photos of the Hawaiian royal family, coins and postage stamps, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii , local newspapers, and books, such as a dictionary of the Hawaiian language. Although it was located, it was not unearthed, as doing so could have caused structural damage to the building.
Aliiōlani Hale is one of many downtown Honolulu buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places . From there, you can walk to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace , the State Capitol Hawaii , the Library State of Hawaii , Honolulu Hale , the Iolani Palace , the kawaiaha’o church , the Territorial Building and Washington Place .
Curiosities
- When Kamehameha V laid the first stone, a time capsule was buried . It contained Hawaiian postage stamps, 21 local and foreign currencies, 11 different local newspapers, the Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawaii , a calendar, and books such as the Hawaiian Language Dictionary. It also contained photos of the royal families.
- Initially, the room under the clocks was used as a studio for the various artists hired by the Hawaiian government.
- Ali’iōlani Hale is built of concrete blocks, while the nearby Church of Kawaiaha’o 1836 and ‘Iolani Barracks 1870 are made of coral blocks.
- The building was built with four clocks in the tower, each pointing in one direction, however, for many decades, the clocks have not given the correct time, offset by several hours and to different degrees.
