Yokohama Specie Bank
Overseas branches of the Yokohama Specie Bank ( Yokohama Shōkin Ginkō, est. 1880) were chartered to act as agents of Imperial Japan. The Honolulu branch was the first successful Japanese bank in Hawaii. The building at 36 Merchant Street dates from 1909 and was designed by one of Honolulu's most prolific architects, Henry Livingston Kerr, who considered it not just his own finest work, but the finest in the city at the time. The brick and steel structure is L-shaped, with a corner entrance and a courtyard in back. Its Italianate design includes a triumphal arch over the main door, copper window casings, glass wainscoting, marble trim, and paintings inside by a local artist. Bank personnel received Japanese-speaking, Chinese-speaking, and English-speaking customers in separate areas.