Did you know that there is only one Royal Palace in the United States? Hi everyone,
Ken here, welcome to "ThisHouse"
In the late 1800s, when Hawaii was still an independent kingdom, the King became the first
Hawaiian monarch to travel abroad. While visiting Europe’s royal families, he was astonished by
their grand rituals, etiquette, and above all else, their architecture. When he returned home
from his trip, he decided that his existing palace needed a major overhaul to compete on
the world stage. He wanted to impress the Kings, queens, and presidents of the western world and
needed a palace which could accommodate all the customs of the Hawaiian people.
He hired architects, Thomas Baker, Isaac Moore, and Charles Wall to design for him the royal seat
of the Kingdom of Hawaii. It was designed in the American Florentine style, blending French and
Italian architecture with traditional Hawaiian architecture, becoming the first building of its
kind. The massive, concrete and brick palace had a foot print of 140 feet by 100 feet with nearly
50,000 square feet spread across its 5 floors. All total, the palace’s construction materials
cost a whopping 340,000 dollars, the modern equivalent of over 10 million dollars.
Entering the palace, we arrive in the grand hall, facing a floating staircase adorned with bronze
lamps atop its newel posts. Intricate plaster work is neatly arranged on the ceiling above
an ornate cornice, and the millwork has been handcrafted from the local Koa wood.
First we will make our way into the blue room, serving as a meeting space and reception
hall for foreign dignitaries. The crystal chandelier is suspended from an elaborate
plaster medallion and contained by layers of geometric plasterwork. As we begin making our
way through the opening towards the dining room, we will find that no surface is left unadorned.
The state dining room, with white walls and white ceiling,
makes a dramatic statement with its colorful furnishings. The table could be extended with
leaves so that either end of the table would rest below the twin chandeliers,
and, at the center of the table, we can see the King’s chair sticking out above the rest.
We can go back out into the grand hall and make our way through one of the koa wood arches to take
a peek behind the scenes. Here we will find the butler’s pantry flooded with natural light. This
connects to the kitchen where the royal family’s every meal would have been prepared by staff.
On the other side of the grand hall, we will find the Gold Room doubling as a
music room. The queen was known to entertain guests by performing songs on the piano.
Though, if you had come to pay your respects, you would have been ushered
into the Throne Room with gilded furniture and velvety red textiles. In this old photo,
we can see how offerings would have been made to the king as the Throne room is staged with gifts.
Let’s head back out into the stair hall and begin making our way upstairs, where
we can get a closer look at the artisan details and intricate craftsmanship of each surface.
The bifurcated stairs split and turn with their respective hand
rails seamlessly rounding into the second floor stair hall.
Looking up, a chandelier is suspended from a stained
glass skylight set withing a rounded plaster dome.
First we will venture into the King’s suite, predominately colored in shades of blue. His
suite is broken up into several sections to include both private and public rooms.
He could stay up all night talking business with world leaders in
his private office before heading off to bed in the next room over.
For the Queen, her suite was decorated in vibrant
pinks and reds with antique and overstuffed furniture.
Her bed carried this theme with a monogramed bedspread and pillows. To the side, we can see
her bathroom, and while rudimentary by today’s standards, let’s not forget that indoor plumbing
at this time was almost unheard of in even the world’s largest and most established cities.
After the king’s death, the queen continued living in the palace until 1893 when the
United States initiated a coup d’etat to overthrow the Kingdom of Hawaii.
The queen was arrested and sequestered to a small room in the palace known as the
imprisonment room where she passed the years by working on an elaborate quilt.
In 1898, The US Military officially occupied Hawaii and claimed it as a territory,
raising an American Flag on the Palace grounds. Lolani Palace was now the capitol building of
the Territory of Hawaii and would later serve as the Capitol building of Hawaii when the territory
was granted statehood in 1959. Since then, a new capitol building has housed the state’s government
and Lolani Palace has been opened to the public as a house museum, but not without protest.
To this day, the forced annexation of the Hawaiian people remains a contentious topic. As recently as
2008, the palace was occupied by native Hawaiians in protest of the kingdom becoming a state.
So, I’ll leave it to you, what are your thoughts? And did you have a
favorite room? Let me know down below in the comments section. And while you’re there,
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