OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS HI-569 (Courtyard Marriott Waikiki ) HABS HI-569 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue Honolulu County

PHOTOGRAPHS

WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA

HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY PACIFIC WEST REGIONAL OFFICE National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 333 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94104 HISTORIC AMERICAN BUILDINGS SURVEY

OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF (COURTYARD MARRIOTT WAIKIKI BEACH)

HABS No. HI-569

Location: 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii 96814.

Significance: The Outrigger Waikiki Surf derives its significance from its association with a prominent local Honolulu architect and businessperson, Roy Kelley. Kelley’s influence and contribution to the exponential growth of tourism in Hawai‘i from the 1950s to 1970s and the central role of Waikiki in this growth is large; however, the building’s significance to the Outrigger’s business operation is minimal as Roy Kelley built many hotels during the 1960s and 1970s. The Waikiki Surf was one of many properties that were built in rapid succession to fuel the Outrigger’s business model of budget and affordable accommodations in Waikiki to cater, almost exclusively, to tourists from outside of Hawai‘i.1.

Description: The Outrigger Waikiki Surf is located on the south shore of in the Waikiki ahupuaa, Kona District. The Outrigger Surf Hotel is located in the densely populated mixed-use Waikiki commercial (retail, restaurant, and hospitality), tourist, residential, and recreation district and has operated as a hotel since it opened in 1970. The hotel currently operates as the Courtyard Marriott Waikiki Beach.

The building is an L-shaped hotel consisting of a high-rise tower and the low-rise wing that connects to the tower via an exterior walkway on the first through third floors. Behind the hotel is the main drive, a courtyard with a pool, and a second medium-rise tower at the rear of the property that was originally constructed as the Waikiki Surf East after the main hotel was already built.

The main tower is an example of the popular modern, International style of hotels and buildings designed and constructed between 1950s and 1970s that dominate Waikiki’s skyline. The front façade contains three bays with a symmetrical room pattern with three-quarter privacy walls separating the room balconies. The tower’s rectilinear façade contains unadorned Art Moderne style curves on the east side that match the style of the three-story low-rise below. The curved pillar, seen from the street, hides a rounded iron guardrail leading from the interior hallway to the exterior low-rise rooms and original four-floor service elevator. The design continues to the top of the structure, although the railings do not connect to the low-rise above the third floor. The interior hallways of the tower continue the Art Moderne style with

1 Crowell, David and Kelly Higelmire National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Evaluation and Section 106 Review for Proposed HON Ohana Antenna Installation at 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, TMK: (1) 2-6-020:018, WaikĪkĪ Ahupua‘a, Kona District, City and County of Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Prepared for Tetra Tech. Prepared by SEARCH, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i. (2015:22-24). OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS No. HI-569 (Page 2)

protruding curved wall features around the doors. The three-story low-rise matches the tower with its International style look on the street side and Art Moderne details in the rear2.

The low-rise is a rectangular structure containing three bays with balconies that replicate the main tower. The first two guest floors are over ground-level storefronts and have iron guardrails that match the high-rise tower. The third-floor balconies differ, as they are lined with concrete and low profile metal rails. The rear of the low-rise building follows the Art Modern styling with guardrails that connect the tower to the exterior rooms of the low-rise. The flat roof of the low-rise is accessible by the service elevator on the fourth floor3.

The International architectural style is a predominate building type in Waikiki and Honolulu, and better examples of hotels built in this style still exist, including Foster Tower (1962), Ilikai (1963), Hilton Rainbow Tower (1968), Waikiki Holiday Inn (1970), and the Sheraton Waikiki (1971).4 The Art Moderne styling on the building, is an interesting design element that breaks up the rectilinear, functional formality of the International style.

The front entrance was redesigned with tile, new lighting, and a water feature in 2005, and the interior lobby of the main tower, pool areas, and courtyard were renovated at the same time.5

History: The building was designed by Roy Kelley and was the eleventh hotel he designed and constructed through the Outrigger Hotel group he founded.6 Before becoming a hotel and resort magnate, Kelley began as an architect in the early 1930s under the distinguished Honolulu architect C. W. Dickey. Kelley was a notable architect in his own right and contributed to several iconic buildings on Oahu including Montague Hall at , the Immigration Station on Ala Moana Boulevard, Halekulani Hotel, and the Waikiki Theater.7 By 1938, Kelley was a licensed architect and working for himself. Before World War II, Kelley acquired land on Seaside Avenue and Kuhio Avenue and built his first commercial property, the Monterey Apartments. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Kelley and his family left Hawaii after news that he was going blind and would require surgery on the mainland.8 After the war, Kelley and his family returned to Hawaii and his commercial

2 Crowell, David and Kelly Higelmire National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Evaluation and Section 106 Review for Proposed HON Ohana Antenna Installation at 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, TMK: (1) 2-6-020:018, WaikĪkĪ Ahupua‘a, Kona District, City and County of Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Prepared for Tetra Tech. Prepared by SEARCH, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i. (2015:22-24). 3 Crowell, David and Kelly Higelmire National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Evaluation and Section 106 Review for Proposed HON Ohana Antenna Installation at 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, TMK: (1) 2-6-020:018, WaikĪkĪ Ahupua‘a, Kona District, City and County of Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Prepared for Tetra Tech. Prepared by SEARCH, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i. (2015:22-24). 4 Fung Associates, Inc.. Hawaii Modern Context Study. Historic Hawaii Foundation, Honolulu. (2011:4-43). 5 Star Bulletin “Mold Delays Wyland Waikiki Hotel – Again.” (February 10, 2007). 6 McDermott, John. Kelley of the Outrigger. ORAFA Publishing House, Honolulu, Hawaii. (1990:55). 7 McDermott, John. Kelley of the Outrigger. ORAFA Publishing House, Honolulu, Hawaii. (1990:14). 8 McDermott, John. Kelley of the Outrigger. ORAFA Publishing House, Honolulu, Hawaii. (1990:36). OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS No. HI-569 (Page 3)

enterprises. Kelley began designing budget hotels to compete with the much more luxurious Moana and Royal Hawaiian hotels.

Kelley designed and constructed the first new hotel in Waikiki in 20 years, The Islander, located at Seaside and Kuhio Avenues. It opened in 1947 and was operated by Kelley and his wife. Two years later, they acquired the Williard Inn and began construction on the 100-room Edgewater Hotel. In 1955, Kelley constructed the 10-story Reef Hotel and the 18-story Reef Tower soon followed. By the end of the 1950s, Kelley had designed and built six hotels in Waikiki9.

Affordable room rates and jet travel accelerated the growth of Waikiki and tourism in Hawai‘i, and Kelley’s business flourished with the construction of five additional hotels in the 1960s, including the acquisition of the Outrigger Waikiki on the site of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The Waikiki Surf was constructed during the Outrigger Hotels’ second period of growth in the 1960s. It was financed from the sale of four other hotels and a land deal.

In 1968, Charles Marek collaborated with long-time tenant of one of his rental cottages (Lots 13-16) and friend, Roy Kelley, founder of Outrigger Hotels Hawaii, to build the Waikiki Surf Hotel on the former Alexander Young Estate land. Charles Marek traded his land for shares in the hotel, and Roy Kelley began construction of the Waikiki Surf Hotel on Lots 10-11, 13-17, and 55 in 1969.10

Kelley also purchased the surrounding parcels to develop a second hotel, the Waikiki Surf East, the mid-rise tower located just to the northeast of the Waikiki Surf. Hotel construction continued over the next two decades, and by the time of incorporation as Outrigger Hotels Hawaii in 1985, the company had built or acquired 23 high-rise properties in Waikiki. By 2006, the company divested their holdings from 30 hotels to 10 and now manages more than 40 hotels.

9 McDermott, John. Kelley of the Outrigger. ORAFA Publishing House, Honolulu, Hawaii. (1990:235). 10 Kelly, Richard. Wyland Waikiki Hotel: a personal story. Outrigger Hotels Hawaii Saturday Briefing. (April 7, 2007:1). OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS No. HI-569 (Page 4)

Sources: Crowell, David M. and Kelly Higelmire 2007 National Register of Historic Places Eligibility Evaluation and Section 106 Review for Proposed HON Ohana Antenna Installation at 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, TMK: (1) 2-6- 020:018, Waikiki Ahupua‘a, Kona District, City and County of Honolulu, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i. Prepared for Tetra Tech. Prepared by SEARCH, Kāne‘he, Hawai‘i.

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

Kelly, Richard 2007 Wyland Waikiki Hotel: a personal story. Outrigger Hotels Hawaii Saturday Briefing. April 7, 2007.

McDermott, John 1990 Kelley of the Outrigger. ORAFA Publishing House, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Star Bulletin 2007 “Mold Delays Wyland Waikiki Hotel – Again.” February 10.

Historians: Kelly Higelmire, MA, and David Crowell, MS, SEARCH, 2015. OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS No. HI-569 (Page 5)

Sketch Map, Outrigger Waikiki Surf, 400 Royal Hawaiian Avenue, Honolulu, HI OUTRIGGER WAIKIKI SURF HABS No. HI-569 (Page 6)