Wish You Were Here!
Welcome to the Hawaii State Capital!
One of the most unusual capital buildings in the US, the Hawaii State Capital features unique Bauhaus architecture, consisting of reinforced concrete pillars meant to resemble palm trees, an open-air floor plan allowing one to walk right through the building and look up at the sky (now that’s some symbolism for transparency), two legislative chambers in the shape of volcanic cones, and a reflective pool surrounding it all (which is currently closed for renovations). The building is also flanked on one side by a statue of Father Damien, a Catholic priest who spent eleven years on the island of Molokai caring for sufferers of leprosy at the lepper colony of Kalaupapa, and on the other side by a statue of Queen Liliʻuokalani, the final monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, who after her overthrow, spent the remainder of her life under house-arrest at the nearby Washington Place.
The capital building is open from 7am-5pm Monday-Friday (closed on weekends), and features a public access room, which requires an ID to enter, though no reservations are required in either case.
Want to know more about those revered Hawaiians who are honored flanking the capital? The National Parks Service has wonderful articles on Father Damien and Queen Liliʻuokalani, as well as many other important Hawaiians! For more information on the capital’s architecture, check out John Carl Warnecke’s article for Architectuul!
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