The rainbows, the beach, the landscape, the culture, the history, the food… Hawaii is a top destination for many reasons, but architecture doesn’t usually make the list. However, coming across these modernist beauties was a real treat in Honolulu. 

Amongst the tourist crowds of Waikiki are plenty of remnants of the area’s tourist explosion of the 1950’s and 60’s when the arrival of commercial airlines and Hawaiian statehood brought ever increasing numbers to the island. Wandering the streets a few blocks off the beach yields plenty of mid-century apartments and motels. 

Just down the road, downtown Honolulu is full of International-style office buildings based on Bauhaus architecture, often with a tropical twist. 

Standouts include the 1969 Hawaii State Capitol

and the 1957 Board of Water Supply Administration Building with its sweeping elevated walkway connecting it to the 1939 Public Service Building.

Note: Although not yet a state during the Great Depression, there were many WPA-funded projects, including the stone murals surrounding the doors of the Public Services Building by Hawaiian artist Marguerite Louis Blasingame. More of her work can be found at the Honolulu Art Museum.

Another nearby masterpiece is the 1962 USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. 

If you’re heading outside the city to Byodo-In temple, you will pass the 1958 chapel at Valley of the Temples Memorial Park.