Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park Visitor Center: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, National Park Service

Germano, Vida; Biscombe, Jason

The Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park Visitor Center (visitor center complex) is a mid-twentieth-century modern cluster of buildings and structures constructed primarily of wood frame and concrete, which were completed in 1968. The visitor center complex is located on the northern edge of the park boundary, which is on the western slope of Mauna Loa, where the 13,680-foot volcano flattens out in a westerly direction and passes beneath the sea. Located off of Highway 160, the visitor center complex includes a 84-vehicle parking lot with landscaped islands, a comfort station, office and information desk, lanai and interpretive wall, and a theater, which are all connected by a series of walkways, planters and benches. The visitor center complex assists the park in the interpretation of the ancient setting of Honaunau Bay and the Hawaiians’ adaptation to their environment. Until 1819, vanquished Hawaiian warriors, noncombatants, and kapu breakers could escape death by reaching this sacred ground. The park includes ancient house sites, royal fishponds, coconut groves, and spectacular shore scenery. In 2002, the visitor center complex was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places at the national level. It was determined eligible under Criterion A because it is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history under the National Park Service’s Mission 66 program. Additionally, it was determined eligible under Criterion C because the property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction under the National Park Service’s use of modern architecture. The period of significance is 1967-1968. The visitor center complex retains its integrity and conveys its historical significance as a planned development that displays the characteristics of Mission-66 era planning, design, and construction. The district has four contributing buildings and structures that date to the period of significance, as well as many landscape characteristics that contribute to the district’s overall setting, feeling, and association. The historic character of the proposed district is reflected in the following landscape characteristics: natural systems and features, spatial organization, vegetation, buildings and structures, circulation, and small-scale features. In addition to the buildings, other major contributing features include the parking lot, walkways, planters, vegetation, benches, and lava-rock retaining walls. While two small additions have been added to the back of the office building in order to accommodate the expanding needs of the park, the alterations are non-intrusive. The key characteristics that historically define the visitor center complex remain intact. Together, the landscape characteristics and associated features help to convey the design intent and aesthetic character of the property.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park Visitor Center: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, National Park Service

Series

Collections