Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-28

Expert Opinion
| Mrs. c. c. l.. Whitney OF San Fran.
cisco, owner of the trade journal. Cal
! ifornia Architect and Engineer, who
! is spending several weeks in the is
| lands, was much impressed with the
! opportunities presented by This city
! for constructing a new Sty!a IF archi-
| lecture distinctively Hawaiian. The
woman-editor, who is all authority on
architectural beauty, declared recent
ly, to a Star-Bulletin representative,
that she thought the present style Of
| architecture in this city was too
'jumbfed'' to be attractive. But the
! improvements on Fort street, Ehe de-
clared, are really worth Will There
is conformity of design which lends
impressiveness to the thoroughfare
and while each building is distinctive,
no single one stands out to over
shadow its neighbor.
The first step toward improving
Fort street was taken some months
ago when the building on the eva
makai corner of Fort and Hotel
streets was torn down. The U0rkIlen
are still excavating there, hut very
shortly. work will be started IN the
! new structure. Gurrey's Art lore
will Occupy part of the ground floor
of the new building.
The Hollister Drug company, to-
gether with c. ]. Day. who handles
an excellent line of groceries and
staple foods, will also occupy this new
corner building, which will be three
stories high. The new structure will
present the same general exterior ap-
pearance as the other ruil1ingS along
| Fort street, but will have some els
| tinctive design in ornamentation. Next
| to this building is the new home OF
| ii. F. Wichman, the jeweler. This
building was completed some time ago
and was one of the first to appear on
the remodeled thoroughfare as a
structure of the new type.
Opposite these four stores are the
Manufacturers Shoe company, Ben
son Smith, the druggists; Whitney
and Marsh, drygoods; Thrum's book.
store, and the IIonoluir Photo Supply
company stores, rapidly progressing
and should be finished within short
time.
| When work first started on the new
store fronts, Fort street presented the
appearance of some back ;.lley used
for depositing old lumber and gravel.
| Huge piles of stones for mixing con.
crete, stacks of lumber, piles OF bricks
and various collections Of materials
which we're to be used in construct
! ing the new buildings, were piled
along the sidewalks and far cur il to
the street. Traffic was not allow ed
to stand for any length Of time along
the street, and autos could not be
parked in front of stores, for the sim
pie reason that there was not room
enough for. machine 20 Park and 81
low the street cars and autos to pass.
A policeman had to be stationed along
Fort street to see that people and
autos kept moving. The buildings,
too, presented a far from imposing
spectacle. -Scaffolding and canvas, the
latter to keep the plaster and straT
bricks from falling onto pedestrians,
hid the face of the buildings from
view. People wondered what was
happening.
But gradually things began so
change. The canvas coverings were
taken down, and the scaffolding be-
gan to disappear. And behind what
had been WALL shutting off from he
public view, appeared the magnificent
store fronts of the progressive mef-
chant establishments of Honolulu.
The people who had wondered and
grumbled at the untidy appearance
of the thoroughfare were loud in heir
commentators of the new order Ct
things.
Looks like a regular city now,
was heard more than once as passers'
by stopped to watch the warkmen and
admire the architectural designs.
EhIers Reconstructs Store
For several weeks the structural
workers on 3. F. Ehler's new store at.
tracted the attention of hundreds OF
pedestrians. B. F. Ehler's company
is not only building a new front. bat
is entirely reconstructing their store.
! The building today presents a st-ik'
ing appearance, with its gray-whfte
expanse, huge big Windows, and
carved work Without doubt, when
completed, this store will be one OF
the most attractive business houses
iii the islands. The store is being
laid out and constructed on an elah-
! crate plan, and will. when completed
and opened for occupancy, be bic
to accommodate much larger :'ade
than heretofore.
The plans of the new structures
have followed no definite style IN re-
gard TO architecture and the design
ers have evidently been striving II
create a reaf Hawaiian type. Louis
Mullgardt, the famous coast architect
and designer, who was in Honolulu
few months ago and who drew up
plans for Honolulu's proposed CON-
mercial center, wanted to create I
style of building that would differ
from anything ever conceived of on
the mainland.
| Architect Mullgardt's plans we're for
street to extend from the present
Bishop street through to the water
front, lined on either side by massive
AMI Impressive office buildings and
merchant houses. This proposition is
dominant now during the war, but now
Fort Sfroof IL fhn now dn0mmnrpioI