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U.S. Immigration Station

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1934, C. W. Dickey and Herbert Cohen Cayton. 505 Ala Moana Blvd.
  • (Photograph by Augie Salbosa)

A departure from the structures usually associated with this federal agency, this handsome Hawaiian-style administration building is in vitingly sited on a wide, sweeping front lawn. The tan, terra-cotta-clad, single-story structure is accentuated by an imposing, two-story open lobby. Breaking the flow, but not the line, of the broad, red and green tile, double-pitched hipped roof, the finely detailed Art Deco lobby conveys the station's role as an interface between East and West. This Pan-Pacific message is overtly portrayed in the floor's bronze, multipointed star disclosing directions to the major ports of the Pacific, and is more subtly reflected in the Chinese intonations of entrance columns, beams, brackets, and lintels, as well as pierced masonry screens. The striking aluminum grille limits human access but not the flow of air, and complements the aluminum Art Deco doors and light fixtures.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Don J. Hibbard
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Data

What's Nearby

Ala Moana Pumping Station
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Royal Brewery (Honolulu Brewing and Malting Company)
Hale Auhau
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Citation

Don J. Hibbard, "U.S. Immigration Station", [Honolulu, Hawaii], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-OA86.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Hawaii

Buildings of Hawaii, Don J. Hibbard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 130-131.

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