Aliiolani Hale is a building located in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii, currently used as the home of the Hawaii State Supreme Court. It is the former seat of government of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Republic of Hawaii.

Located in the building's courtyard is the famed gold-leaf statue of Kamehameha the Great.

Establishment and monarchy period

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Ali'iolani Hale was originally designed in a Renaissance revival style as the royal palace for King Kamehameha V. In the Hawaiian language, Alii-o-lani Hale means "House of the heavenly King"; also, the name "Aliiolani" was one of the given names of Kamehameha V.

Although the building was designed to be a palace, Kamehameha V realized that the Hawaiian government desperately needed a government building. At that time, the several buildings in Honolulu used by the government were very small and cramped, clearly inadequate for the growing Hawaiian government. Thus, when Kamehameha V ordered construction of Aliiolani Hale, he commissioned it as a government office building instead of a palace.

Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone for the building on February 19, 1872. He died before the building was completed, and it was dedicated in 1874 by one of his successors, King David Kalakaua. At the time, Hawaiian media criticized the building's extravagant design, suggesting that the building be converted into a palace as originally designed.

Until 1893, the building held most of the executive departments of the Hawaiian government as well as the Hawaiian legislature and courts.

Overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy

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It was from Aliiolani Hale in 1893 that the Committee of Safety, under the leadership of Lorrin A. Thurston, deposed Queen Liliuokalani by public proclamation and the United States Marine Corps was ordered to forcibly remove the reigning queen. A 1993 resolution passed by Congress and signed by President of the United States Bill Clinton declared the use of American military force in 1893 illegal.

After the establishment of the Hawaiian provisional government in 1893 and the Republic of Hawaii in 1894, some of the offices in Aliiolani Hale were moved to Iolani Palace, including the Hawaiian legislature. As a result, Aliiolani Hale became primarily a judicial building.

Ali'iolani Hale since 1900

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The growing size of Hawaii's government continued to be a problem for the building, however, especially after Hawaii became a United States territory in 1900. In 1911, the building was extensively renovated to help solve these space problems. The entire interior of the building was gutted and rebuilt, giving the building's interior a completely new floorplan. Since the building was originally designed to be a palace, its floorplan was not adequate for its later usage as a judicial building. The new layout of the building fixed this problem.

The size of the territorial government continued to grow. In the 1940s, a new wing was added to the building to help alleviate the growing problem of overcrowding. The architects who designed the new wing tried to blend it in with the original building that dated back to the 1870's.

Over the next many decades, most of the state judiciary functions moved out of Aliiolani Hale to various other buildings around Honolulu (including the state district, family, and circuit courts). Today, the building houses the Hawaii State Supreme Court and is the administrative center of the Hawaii State judiciary. It also houses the Judiciary History Center, a museum featuring a multimedia presentation of Hawaii's judiciary, a restored historic courtroom, and other exhibits dealing with Hawaii's judicial history. The building also houses Hawaii's largest law library.

In December 2005, the U.S. military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command used radar equipment to locate a time capsule buried by Kamehameha V at the building site on February 19, 1872. According to records from the time, the capsule contains photos of the royal family, Hawaiian coins and postage stamps, the constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom, local newspapers, and books, such as a Hawaiian language dictionary. But despite the radar discovery, the time capsule was not disturbed, in part because digging it up would harm the building's structural integrity.

Aliiolani Hale is one of many buildings in downtown Honolulu listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Within walking distance are the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace, Hawaii State Capitol, Hawaii State Library, Honolulu Hale, Iolani Palace, Kawaiahao Church, Territorial Building, and Washington Place.

Trivia

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• When Kamehameha V laid the cornerstone, a time capsule was buried there. It contains Hawaiian postage stamps, 21 Hawaiian and foreign coins, 11 different local newspapers, the Hawaiian Kingdom constitution, a calendar and books, such as a Hawaiian language dictionary. It also contains photos of royal families.
• At first, the room immediately under the clocks was used as a studio for various artists hired by the Hawaiian government.
• Aliiolani Hale is built from concrete blocks, unlike nearby Kawaiahao Church (1836) and Iolani Barracks (1870), each constructed of coral blocks.
• The building was built with four clocks in its tower, one facing each direction. For many decades now, however, the clocks have failed to keep accurate time, often off by many hours and off to varying degrees.

See also

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• History of Hawaii

External link

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• Hawaiian king's time capsule found, but will stay buried, a December 2005 Associated Press article (via CNN)

Hawaiian architecture | Museums in Hawaii | Registered Historic Places in Hawaii