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Breakers Hotel

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1954, Edwin Bauer. 250 Beach Walk
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)

An oasis in the midst of high-rise Waikiki, the placid two-story, sixty-four-unit Breakers Hotel exudes tropic conviviality. Organized around a verdant courtyard with a centered swimming pool, the hipped-gablet-roofed buildings open to nature via their louvered panels and shōji. Clean Japanese detailing continues in the lanai's paneled balustrades and is also apparent in the single-story pool-side snack bar and lounge. The wall adjoining the lounge is adorned with a delightful, oceanic mural by Maile Yawata and Jan Hansen (1987), replete with fish and a swimming maiden, a reflection of a simpler time. When the hotel opened, Hugh Lytle wrote in the Honolulu Advertiser that its style was “a blend of modern, Oriental, and Polynesian without clashing of nationalities or periods.” The hotel included kitchens in all the rooms, catering to the more economy-minded visitors who appeared in increasing numbers following World War II.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Don J. Hibbard
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Data

What's Nearby

Hawaiiana Hotel
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Sheraton Waikiki
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Citation

Don J. Hibbard, "Breakers Hotel", [Honolulu, Hawaii], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-OA134.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Hawaii

Buildings of Hawaii, Don J. Hibbard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 159-160.

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