Hawaii

Iolani Palace

The state of surfing, hula dancing and beautiful beaches. Hawaii is a great place of diversity of people as well as wildlife and nature. 

So first lets start off with history behind the site. The Iolani palace was the residence of the royalty in Hawaii back when Hawaii was ruled by a monarchy. The land was owned by Kekauluohi, and she was married to Charles Kanaina. They lived beside Kekūanāoʻa who later turned his house into the house of Kamehameha. Kekūanāoʻa wanted to purchase the land neighbouring and build a large home for his daughter Victoria Kamāmalu; but Kamehameha III bought the estate and this became his royal residence after the movement of the capital of Hawaii to Honolulu.


The building was called Hale Ali'i which means house of the chiefs. It was changed to Ioloni Palace after Kamehameha IV birth name which means 'royal hawk'. Thomas J. Baker designed the structure while Charles J. Wall added details and Issac Moore was the architect. The building was finished in November 1882 and cost a whopping $340,000, a large amount at the time. 

Over the years the palace has gone through numerous and extensive remodelling. It was restored in 1930 and again in 1960 when Hawaii became a state. On December 29, 1962 it was made a Natural Historic landmark. Government office vacated the building in 1969. With lots of charity fundraising to restore the building to its original it finally opened as a museum to the public in 1972. It is the only royal palace on US soil.

Photo credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:WPPilot