Timeless Magic, 1965 - 2015
26 TIMELESS MAGIC The freestanding Dining Pavilion said to have been designed to mimic a Buddhist temple with the bronze carp outside the entry as its guardians overlooked the ocean from a wide stone plaza that meandered through the lower Promenade level where shops and a copper clad bar would be placed The lobby featured Hawai is first retractable roof a skylight that could be closed in case of rain and a central multi story garden through which coconut palms would grow Blue tile floors led across the wall less space toward the ocean encouraging one to exhale and relax immediately upon arrival In a field dominated by cheap construction unsympathetic site planning or sentimental historicism it is an unexpectedly distinctive and muscular work of architecture SOM associate Nicholas Adams later wrote Its two stages of design also illustrate Bassetts stylistic range and sense of balance managing large and small scale and grand gesture and intimate moment with equal skill Altogether 54000 square feet of Mexican flagstone 5000 square feet of Italian marble 30000 square feet of local lava one mile of Narra wood 11 miles of pipe 1700 tons of reinforcing steel and more than 20000 cubic yards of concrete went into LSRs invisible building For the roof black beach pebbles were trucked in from 90 miles away for landscaping 200000 plants of more than 200 varieties One and a half million man hours spent The eventual cost was 15 million dollars the most expensive hotel ever built at that time THE EPITOME OF COMFORT AND BEAUTY Guestrooms were to be designed with understated elegance thoughtfully appointed yet restrained in the style of an old world mansion LSR finally conceded to the need for air conditioning but gave guests the option of fresh air and the sound of the ocean with multiple guestroom doors Each room was fitted with solid doors screened doors for view and sliding wooden louvered doors for privacy while still allowing the luxurious option of cross ventilation In the fall of 1963 noted New York interior designer Davis Allen joined the team To assist him SOM brought in Margo Grant Walsh a recent college graduate from the San Francisco office Walsh who would go on to have an award winning career of her own remembers flying with Allen on a tour of great Hawai i hotels of the day including the Royal Hawaiian on O ahu and Coco Palms on Kaua i At a Kaua i market they discovered Hawaiian quilts stunning in their minute detail and bold color LSR contacted Reverend Kahu Abraham Akaka of Kawaiahao Church on O ahu Kahu spoke to church member Meali i Kalama and in time for the hotel opening she and a group of women worked around the clock to complete 30 masterpieces each hand quilted with over a million stitches The ladies donated their commission back to the church and gave Mr Rockefeller a magnificent Hawaiian flag quilt for his hotel Just one of the countless impossible projects Allen and Walsh undertook
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