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Hawaii State Capitol
The Hawaii State Capitol from the southeast
Interactive map of Hawaii State Capitol
General information
Architectural style	Hawaiian international architecture
Location	415 S. Beretania StreetHonolulu,Hawaii
Coordinates	21°18′27″N157°51′27″W / 21.30750°N 157.85750°W /21.30750; -157.85750
Construction started	November 10, 1965; 60 years ago (November 10, 1965)[1]
Completed	March 15, 1969; 56 years ago (March 15, 1969)[1]
Client	State of Hawaii
Owner	State of Hawaii
Design and construction
Architects	Belt, Lemmon & Lo and John Carl Warnecke & Associates[1]
Website
www.capitol.hawaii.gov
Hawaii State Capitol & Grounds
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Part of	Hawaii Capital Historic District (ID78001020)
Designated CP	12/01/1978

TheHawaii State Capitol is the official statehouse or capitol building of theU.S. state ofHawaii. From its chambers, the executive and legislative branches perform the duties involved in governing the state. TheHawaii State Legislature—composed of the twenty-five memberHawaii State Senate led by thePresident of the Senate and the fifty-one memberHawaii State House of Representatives led by theSpeaker of the House—convenes in the building. Its principal tenants are thegovernor andlieutenant governor of Hawaii, as well as all legislative offices and the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Located indowntown Honolulu, the Hawaii State Capitol was commissioned and dedicated byJohn A. Burns, second governor of Hawaii. It opened on March 15, 1969, replacing the former statehouse, the ʻIolani Palace.

Burns designed the restoration of the royal palace built byKing David Kalākaua andQueen Kapiʻolani; as part of that effort, the Queen Liliʻuokalani Statue in the Capitol Mall between the capitol building and ʻIolani Palace was dedicated on April 10, 1982. The site was onceHaimoeipo, the royal residence ofQueen Dowager Kalama and later KingLunalilo, who died there.

Several other capitol building monuments decorate the statehouse grounds. The Beretania Street entrance features the Liberty Bell, a gift of thePresident of the United States and theUnited States Congress to theTerritory of Hawaii in 1950 as a symbol of freedom and democracy. One of the more prominent monuments on the statehouse grounds is theFather Damien Statue—a tribute to theRoman Catholicpriest who died in 1869 after sixteen years of serving patients afflicted withleprosy.Father Damien wasbeatified byPope John Paul II in 1995, and canonized on October 11, 2009, by Pope Benedict XVI. His feast Day is celebrated on May 10. In Hawaiʻi, it is celebrated on the day of his death, April 15.

The Eternal Flame on Beretania Street is a metal sculptured torch that burns endlessly as a tribute to all men and women from Hawaii who served with theAir Force,Army,Coast Guard,Marines, andNavy in the major and minor conflicts in which the United States was engaged. Likewise, the Korean-Vietnam War Memorial pays tribute to service members who died in those conflicts. Dedicated on July 24, 1994, byBenjamin J. Cayetano, fifth Governor of Hawaii, the monument consists of 768 black marble pedestals engraved with the names of 312 service members of theVietnam War. A larger marble slab bears aHawaiian language inscription of remembrance.

The Hawaii State Capitol is an American adaptation of theBauhaus style termed "Hawaiian international architecture". It was designed by a partnership between the firms of Belt, Lemon and Lo (Architects Hawaii Ltd.), andJohn Carl Warnecke and Associates. Unlike other state capitols modeled after theUnited States Capitol, the Hawaii State Capitol's distinct architectural features symbolize various natural aspects of Hawaii. Among them:

• The building is surrounded by areflecting pool, symbolizing thePacific Ocean.
• The two legislative chambers are cone-shaped, symbolizingvolcanoes that formed theHawaiian Islands.
• The columns around the perimeter of the building have shapes resemblingroyal palm trees. There are eight columns in four rows at either side of the building, representing theeight main islands of Hawaii; sets of eight items appear in other places inside and along the outside of the building.
• The Capitol is built with an open-air design, allowing sun, wind, and rain to enter; the central atrium opens to the sky and rainbows can sometimes be seen inside the building when it rains.
• Four kukui nut trees (Hawaii's state tree) are a numerical reference to the four main counties in the State of Hawaii and the four major Hawaiian gods (Kukailimoku, Kane, Lono, and Kanaloa).^[2] Sets of four items appear in many other places in the building.
• When standing in the center of the structure, the chandeliers from both legislative chambers, which represent the sun and moon, can be seen through the glass walls, while the area that is normally reserved for a rotunda in most capitol buildings is left open to the sky. It is said that the sky is Hawaii's capitol dome.
• German-American artistOtto Piene designed the chandeliers, which are kinetic sculptures made of small objects. The Sun chandelier in the House is made of dozens of gold-plated globes, and the Moon chandelier in the Senate is made of 620 whitechambered nautilus shells.^[2]

• 
  The Hawaii State Capitol is on Beretania Street.
• 
  The central atrium
• 
  Statue ofFather Damien outside the Hawaii State Capitol Building
• 
  Reflecting pool
• 
  Hawaii State Capitol photographed from the rim ofPunchbowl Crater

From the time the Capitol was completed in 1969, the reflecting pool has had a persistentalgae growth problem, due partly to the fact the pool is fed withbrackish water from on-site wells. Attempts by the state to fix the problem included introducingtilapia fish into the pool and installing anozone treatment system.^[3] The state currently has the pool lining scrubbed manually with enzymes added to the water to combat growth. Some Capitol regulars say the algae growth has come to represent the pollution of the Pacific Ocean, in an ironic twist of the original symbolic meaning of the pool.^[4]

• List of Hawaii state legislatures
• List of state and territorial capitols in the United States

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHawaii State Capitol.

• Official website
• Historic Honolulu (The Capitol District)
• Description of Hawaii State Capitol fromCUPOLA

• Buildings and structures in Honolulu
• Government buildings in Hawaii
• Government of Hawaii
• Hawaiian architecture
• State capitols in the United States
• Tourist attractions in Honolulu
• Historic district contributing properties in Hawaii
• Government buildings completed in 1969
• 1969 establishments in Hawaii
• National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu
• Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii

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