Hart Wood: Architectural Regionalism in Hawaii

5. Early Work in Hawaii

65 The basic designs of at least three major projects were completed before Wood made Honolulu a permanent base. The Greek Theater project, as its name implies, is pure Classical Revival architecture. However, the early schemes for the Bishop & Company Bank (fig. 39) and the Castle & Cooke Building (fig. 40) appear to conform with the Hawaiian Renaissance Revival forms Louis Mullgardt had proposed for Bishop Street, an early indication that Dickey and Wood already were thinking of Hawaii’s architecture in a regional context. Of the three, only the Castle & Cooke Building was realized, and for reasons unknown, it displayed a solid Neoclassical Revival form (fig. 41). These initial project designs all followed the strong Beaux Arts design path that was well established during Wood’s career at Bliss and Faville. Other early designs done in Hawaii—the W. E. Bogardus residence and the Clarence Cooke Swimming Pool—similarly employed Classical styles, as did the later Likelike School. By August 11, 1920, the rough concrete work for the Cooke’s pool and bathing pavilion (fig. 42), a scaled-down version of the proposed facade of the Greek Theater project, was completed. This $15,000 project incorporated an 18-by-40-foot pool into a landscaped area of 5 EARLY WORK IN HAWAII FIGURE 39. Bishop Bank Building sketch, 1919. FIGURE 40. Castle & Cooke Building sketch, ca. 1919. FIGURE 41. Castle & Cooke Building, Honolulu, ca. 1920. No longer extant. 68 C H A P T E R F I V E 150 by 100 feet, which was part of the extensive grounds owned by the Cooke family in lush Nuuanu Valley. The project is significant for at least two reasons: its strong Classical Revival style and its landscaped setting. The latter demonstrated Wood’s continued interest in landscape design. His early experiences with Frank Edbrooke and Marean & Norton in Denver had influenced his sensitivity to landscape design, but— with the exception of the Pan-Pacific International Exposition—he had been given little opportunity to engage this interest during his years with FIGURE 42. Cooke Pool Pavilion, Honolulu, ca. 1920. (Bishop Museum photo.) 69 Early Work in Hawaii Bliss and Faville. In Hawaii, Wood’s interest in the landscape setting of his buildings was to blossom into a major element of his work. The $21,000 Classical Revival Bogardus residence was completed about the same time as the Clarence Cooke Swimming Pool. The Bogardus residence is a symmetrically arranged two-story home with a gabled roof and pediments over the main entry and dormers on the front (fig. 43). The front entry is framed by an elliptical fanlight and sidelights, and the interiors continue this Classical detailing and layout (fig. 44). In spite of its adherence to Colonial Revival principles, two characteristics of the home show some awareness of local building traditions. The symmetry of the house is affected by the presence of a twelve-foot wide lanai, similar to a mainland sunporch. The lanai runs across the entire leeward , sunny side of the house and away from the driving rains of the valley. The second characteristic is the presence of latticework between the columns of the entry, with each panel embellished with a wreath (fig. 45). The lattice may have been installed to provide some wind and weather protection for the entry. Latticework was usually associated with screening for crawl spaces in vernacular dwellings in Hawaii. However, a precedent also existed in the Islands for its use in lieu of solid walls, allowing maximum ventilation and a degree of privacy. Wood would have been familiar with this usage in at least the Catholic Church in Waikiki and King Kalakaua’s bungalow on the grounds of Iolani Palace, if not also in a host of luau halls situated at various rural churches. The feeling of lightness and airiness imparted by the use of the latticework would be repeated in other projects throughout Wood’s career, further accentuating an entry porch’s mediatory role between indoors and out. The use of lattice shows an early interest in motifs appropriate to Hawaii’s balmy climate. Wood’s reliance on Beaux Arts forms quickly diminished, and Likelike School (1923) was his last major project to adhere to Neoclassical thought. FIGURE 44. Opposite. Bogardus residence front entry, Honolulu. (David Franzen, 1983.) FIGURE 43. Bogardus residence, Honolulu. (David Franzen, 1983.) 72 C H A P T E...