FUKUDA SEED COMPANY BUILDING HABS HI-580 (Tamura …...1. is located just northwest of downtown . Honolulu, on the border of Iwilei and Palama. It is situatedroughly one block southwest

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WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

HABS HI-580HABS HI-580

FUKUDA SEED COMPANY BUILDING(Tamura Building)(Institute for Human Services Building)524 Kaaahi StreetHonoluluHonolulu CountyHawaii

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEYPACIFIC WEST REGIONAL OFFICE

National Park ServiceU.S. Department of the Interior

333 Bush StreetSan Francisco, CA 94104

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY

FUKUDA SEED CO. BUILDING (Tamura Building)

(Institute for Human Services Building) HABS No. HI-580

LOCATION: 524 Kaaahi Street, Honolulu, Hawaii Latitude / Longitude coordinates: 21° 19' 03.00" N 157° 51' 57.50" W

This point was obtained in September 2016, using Google Earth (WGS84). There is no restriction on its release to the public.

SIGNIFICANCE: The Fukuda Seed Co. Building is significant at the local level for embodying distinctive architectural characteristics of the Moderne and International Styles. DESCRIPTION: The Fukuda Seed Co. Building1 is located just northwest of downtown Honolulu, on the border of Iwilei and Palama. It is situated roughly one-block southwest of the busy intersection of King Street and Dillingham Boulevard. This urban area is largely characterized by one- to three-story commercial buildings such as gas stations, shops, fast food restaurants, and light-industrial facilities.

The Fukuda Seed Co. Building exhibits the distinctive characteristics of the Moderne Style of architecture, including rounded corners and a flat roofline. These features, along with the curving, thin cornice, cantilevered canopies, and upper floor windows set in narrow bands, are a streamlined characteristic of the Moderne Style. The building also displays features of the International Style, such as a lack of window detailing and smooth wall surfaces. These features are typical of post-World-War II low-rise commercial buildings in Honolulu.2

The building has a reinforced concrete frame and exterior walls of concrete masonry units (CMU) that are set in a stacked bond pattern. It has a flat roof with a cantilevered concrete canopy at the cornice that extends out about 3-0"'. A similar canopy above the first floor storefronts extends out about 5'-0", and a narrower canopy above the second floor windows extends about 1'.

The building’s V-shaped footprint was designed to conform to the boundaries of the lot. The juncture of the building is situated at the intersection of Kaaahi and Kaamahu Streets, with the legs of the “V” extending along each street. The arms are about 32'-0" wide and 140'-0" long. In plan, the corners of the building are rounded, defined by large arcs with radii of about 65'-0".

There are ten commercial storefronts on the ground floor, and apartment units on the second and third floors. City and County of Honolulu property tax records indicate there were originally 13 apartments on each of the upper floors. (The number of apartments appears to be the same today, although since access was not provided to the rear court, or the building’s interior, this could not be confirmed.) Nine of the storefronts have entry doors from the sidewalk. One,

1 “Fukuda Seed Co. Building” is used as the historic name because the Fukuda Seed Company occupied ground floor retail space at the apex of the building for over three decades (from the 1968 date of its opening until at least 1999). A large sign, "Fukuda Seed Co." was installed in the shop window during those years and the building was recognized by that name. “Tamura Building” is a name used for the building since about 2007. It derives from preliminary research performed on the building by Mason Architects, Inc., that identified the building was built by a man named Tadao Tamura. (Tamura was also the 1968 lessee of the property.) 2 Fung Associates, Inc. Hawaii Modernism Context Study, (Honolulu: Historic Hawaii Foundation). 2011. p. 4-2.

Fukuda Seed Co. Building HABS No. HI-580

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located at the east end of the building, is entered through a doorway from the east driveway passage. The storefronts have aluminum-framed double doors with large, single-glass panels and jalousie transoms. The storefront windows are large aluminum-framed fixed lights with both jalousie and fixed light transoms.

Fenestration on the second and third floors is uniform and characterized by single rows of regularly spaced openings of double sash jalousies. Window air conditioning units have been installed in many of the upper floor jalousie windows as well as in some of the first floor transoms. The air conditioning units and the replacement of some transoms with jalousies appear to be the only alterations to the building.

There is a motor court behind the building that is paved for parking with vehicular access provide by two driveways that puncture the first floor of the building. One driveway is located near the south end of the building, off Kaaahi Street, and the other is near the east end, off Kaamahu Street. Both driveways are about 23' wide. At the rear of the building, at the end of each wing are stairwells to the second and third floors. Continuous balconies at the upper floors at the rear of the building provide access to the apartments.

HISTORY: The Fukuda Seed Co. Building is located on a site that was formerly part of the Oahu Railway & Land Co. (OR&L Co.) railyard. The railyard, in operation between 1889 and 1947, was a large complex located between Kuwili Street, Iwilei Road, King Street, and Dillingham Boulevard. The Fukuda Seed Co. Building has been built at approximately the same site as the former roundhouse. The crescent-shaped, fifteen-stall concrete roundhouse was demolished in 1959. After the OR&L Co. ceased rail operations, it began dismantling the structures in the railyard. In the 1960s, several of its lots were consolidated, eventually becoming the 20,832 square foot parcel where the Fukuda Seed Co. Building is situated.3

The property was leased to Tadao Tamura, a general contractor and subdivision developer,4 and Richard S. F. Lam, a physician. Tamura applied for the building's original building permit, and permit No. 20544 was issued on January 12, 1966, for a value of $285,000.5 Tamura built the Fukuda Seed Co. Building on the lot in 1968.6 The designer of the building is listed on the original building permit as William Chun Ming (1915-2004). Hawaii-born, Chun Ming was a structural engineer with an office in Honolulu from about 1955 to 1970.

Richard R. Fukuda, owner of Fukuda Seed Co., was one of the first tenants in the new building. He signed a ten-year lease on January 13, 1969, for $353.25 per month. Dr. Richard Lam also had space in the building. In addition to the retail operation of the Fukuda Seed Co. in the building, other ground-floor tenants in the 1960s and early 1970s included Club Judy, Club Jade, Laundryland, Kewalo Pickle Products, and a restaurant (name unknown).

Moderne and International Styles in Hawaii

3 Tax Map Key No.: (1)1 -5-007: 033 4 "Action on Subdivision Protested," Honolulu newspaper clipping from microfiche cardfile. "Tamura Tadao" at University of Hawaii at Manoa newspaper morgue. Monday, February 17, 1958. 5City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting. 6 This date of construction is based on the following: 1) The building appears on an aerial photograph dated February 6, 1968 found in the Hawaii State Archives; 2) A City and County of Honolulu Real Property Assessment office field survey card for the building was completed in October of 1968 for the building.


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The Moderne Style was introduced to the United States in the early 1930s and was applied to the design of Hawaii's buildings in the same decade.7 This style, with emphasis on horizontal lines, "stripped of ornament and easily adapted to mass duplication," was viewed by critics at the time as, "symbolic of the dynamic twentieth century, of speed and machines."8 The Moderne Style "penetrated deep into the vernacular of American building and appeared in small towns everywhere."9 In Hawaii, its use became an expression of the Territory's aspirations to appear as au current as possible. Consequently, the Moderne Style was utilized for vernacular buildings, as well as architect-designed buildings, most frequently for commercial shops.10 By about the mid-1950s it became more common for local architects to use Hawaiian regional influences in modernist buildings, resulting in the Hawaiian Modern form.

The International Style was introduced to Hawaii roughly the same time as the Moderne Style. Its proliferation in the Territory was due in part to the firm of Albert Kahn Associates, Inc., who designed a number of buildings in the International Style at Pearl Harbor Navy Base and the Naval Air Station at Kaneohe Bay during World War II. In the 1950s, some relatively large-scale buildings were built locally, with noticeable International Style design, such as the Liliuokalani Building for the Department of Education, which was designed by local architect Hart Wood, in 1950. Such strictly interpreted International Style buildings became less common in the following decade, as architects, such as Vladimir Ossipoff, began to blend the International Style with Hawaiian "architectural regionalism" that came to be known as Hawaiian Modern.11

In the period spanning from the 1950s through the early 1970s, metropolitan Oahu’s built environment experienced exponential growth. A significant number of buildings erected in that period were contractor-designed, with "stark modernist" detailing, such as plain walls of concrete block, and jalousie windows.12 The modest Moderne design of the Fukuda Seed Co. Building hints at vernacular origins, and its late construction date of 1968 is likewise indicative of vernacular design. By the 1960s, architects in Hawaii generally avoided using such an outdated style.13 (There are several extant examples of the Moderne Style that were constructed between 1951 and 1957 on King Street in Honolulu, which are considered among the latest examples of the style that were architect-designed.14)

SOURCES: Aerial photo Series GSVXJ-S, Hawaii State Archives folder PPA-49-4, photo 3-7 dated

February 6, 1968.

Blumenson, John J.-G. Identifying American Architecture, A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600-1945. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press. 1995.

7 Don J. Hibbard, Buildings of Hawaii. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press). 2011. p. 36. 8 Frederick Koeper, "Streamline Moderne," in Marcus Whiffen and Frederick Koeper, American Architecture 1607-1976. (Cambridge: The MIT Press). 1981. p. 331. 9 Ibid. 10 Hibbard, Buildings of Hawaii. 2011. p. 36. 11 Don J. Hibbard, "Valdimir Ossipoff Meets Hawaii: A response to the Islands. In Dean Sakamoto, ed. with Karla Britton and Diana Murphy. Hawaiian Modern, The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff. (New Haven: Yale University Press). 2007. 12 Fung Associates, Hawaii Modernism. 2011. pp. 3-22. 13 Hibbard, Buildings of Hawaii. 2011. p. 203. And Fung Associates, Inc. Hawaii Modernism. 2011. pp. 4-2. 14 Fung Associates, Hawaii Modernism. 2011. pp. 4-5.


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City and County of Honolulu, Department of Planning and Permitting. Information on TMK (1)1-5-007: 033 contained in electronically archived database. "Oahu Field Books, Regular 1938-1987" and "Oahu History Sheets, 1959-1987." Accessed November 16, 2015.

Fung Associates, Inc. Hawaii Modernism Context Study. Honolulu: Historic Hawaii Foundation. 2011.

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

______, "Vladimir Ossipoff Meets Hawaii: A response to the Islands." In Dean Sakamoto, ed. with Karla Britton and Diana Murphy. Hawaiian Modern, The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2007. Pp. 33-51.

Mason Architects, Inc. Honolulu High Capacity Transit Corridor Project, Surveyed Property Considered Eligible for National Register: Institute for Human Services/Tamura Bldg. Prepared for the November 2008 Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Section 4(f) Evaluation. July 2008.

Koeper, Frederick, "Streamline Moderne," in Marcus Whiffen and Frederick Koeper. American Architecture, 1607-1976. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 1981.

McAlester, Virginia & Lee. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred A Knopf. 1996.

Neil, J. Meredith. "Paradise Improved, Environmental Design in Hawaii." In The American Association of Architectural Bibliographers, Papers, Vol VIII, William B. O'Neal, ed. (Charlottesville, University Press of Virginia). 1971.

Sakamoto, Dean, ed. with Karla Britton and Diana Murphy. Hawaiian Modern, The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2007.

Sanborn Map Company. "Fire Insurance Maps, Honolulu, 1950-1975." Available at the Hawaii State Library, Main Branch. Various dates.

PROJECT INFORMATION: This report is part of the documentation for properties identified as adversely affected by the Honolulu Rail Transit Project (HRTP) in the City and County of Honolulu. This documentation was required under Stipulation V.C. (1, 2) of the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor Project (HHCTCP) Programmatic Agreement (PA), which was signed by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration, the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Officer, the United States Navy, and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. After consultation with the City and County of Honolulu, the National Park Service, Pacific West Regional Office, in a letter dated June 29, 2011, stipulated the details of the required documentation efforts, including HABS documentation for this and other properties affected by the HRTP. Field work was undertaken in March 2013 and this report was researched and written by Dee Ruzicka of Mason Architects, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii. Access to the interior and the rear court was not provided by the property manager. HISTORIAN: Dee Ruzicka (Author) & Polly Tice (Editor), Mason Architects, Inc.


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Location map

Fukuda Seed Co. Building


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Future site of the Fukuda Seed Co. Building shown on a ca. 1939-41 aerial photograph of the OR&L yard. Labeling added. This photo was taken by the U.S. Army Air Corps and is in the public domain. No scale, north at top. Base photograph, Hawaii State Archives, folder PPA-58-2, photo M-56.56. Ca. 1939-41.


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Sketch plan, Fukuda Seed Co. Building. (Mason Architects, Inc.)


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Appendix: Images of Current Conditions

Photo key showing position and orientation of the 12 Appendix images, numbered 4-15.


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Image 4: Overview of Fukuda Seed Co. Building showing the building apex and the Kaaahi Street side (right). Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing south southeast.


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Image 5: Overview of Fukuda Seed Co. Building showing the building apex and the Kaamahu Street side (left). Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing southeast.


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Image 6: Showing the south end of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing north northeast.


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Image 7: Showing the east end of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing southwest.


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Image 8: Elevation along Kaaahi Street near the apex of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing east northeast.


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Image 9: Cargo bay at the east end of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing south southeast.


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Image 10: Elevation of cargo bay at the south end of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing east northeast.


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Image 11: Elevation of a typical storefront entry. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing east northeast.


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Image 12: Oblique view of a typical storefront. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing southeast.


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Image 13: Oblique view of a typical section of the upper floors, showing the overhanging eaves and cantilevered canopies. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing southeast.


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Image 14: Oblique view near the apex of the building. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing north.


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Image 15: Oblique view looking up Kaaahi Street towards Dillingham Boulevard. Field photograph taken by Dee Ruzicka, March 4, 2013. View facing north northwest.

Documents

FUKUDA SEED COMPANY BUILDING HABS HI-580 (Tamura …...1. is located just northwest of downtown . Honolulu, on the border of Iwilei and Palama. It is situatedroughly one block southwest