MELIM BUILDING HABS HI-572 333 Queen Street HABS HI-572 Honolulu Honolulu County Hawaii PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA FIELD RECORDS 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 MELIM BUILDING HABS No. HI-572 Location: 333 Queen Street Honolulu City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i U.S.G.S. Honolulu, HI Quadrangle 1998 (7.5 Series) NAD83. Latitude and Longitude Coordinates: 21.305862, -157.861686 Present Owner: Melim Building Ltd. Present Occupants: Various Present Use: Commercial Office Significance: The Melim Building is historically significant for its associations with the development of the business district of Honolulu during the late 1950s and 1960s. Initially constructed in 1959 to house Melim Service and Supply Company and provide automobile parking, the building was dramatically expanded in 1965 to accommodate commercial retail and office tenants. The building is also architecturally significant as an early example of a mid-rise building constructed in downtown Honolulu. Description: The Melim Building is located in downtown Honolulu at the intersection of Richards and Queen streets. Its neighbors on the blocks adjoining the intersection are seven to ten story high, modern-style office buildings, with the exception of the three-story Spanish Mission revival style United States Post Office which is directly across Queen Street from the Melim Building. Rising nine stories plus a penthouse, the poured in place, reinforced concrete Melim Building has a 68’-4” x 131’-7” rectangular foot print, with a four-story, reinforced concrete parking structure appended to its rear. The façade is five bays wide at the ground level, with the right-most, Melim Building HABS No. HI-572 (Page No. 2) entry/vertical circulation bay measuring 23’ wide. The other four bays all house retail operations and measure 26’ wide, with the exception of the left-most bay which is 27’ wide. The four bays are framed by granite encased columns at the ground level, with a similar veneer used in the entryway. The bays housing the retail operations are characterized by floor-to-ceiling, fixed, plate glass display windows and a glass double door. The doors adjoin the columns and each bay has one set of double doors and four fixed pane windows, except the second from the left which has two sets of double doors and only three windows. The entry is recessed approximately 12’ and has a glass double door with side lights and fixed transom. All windows and doors have no frames. The floor and walls of the entry have a granite finish. A hinged, solid metal-clad door on the entry’s right wall services the stairwell to the top of the building. The stairwell opens on a balcony at each floor. The inset balconies look down on Richards Street and have a metal railing. A cantilevered, stucco-covered, reinforced concrete canopy runs across the entire façade between the first and second stories and wraps around the right side. The face of this 3’ wide canopy has five panels, further articulating the five bays, and recessed, circular lights on its bottom. A poorly maintained, planted area separates the building from the sidewalk and granite paved walks lead from the sidewalk to each doorway. The second to ninth stories are characterized by concrete framed, recessed windows, twenty to a story, which are above the four retail oriented ground level bays. Each window has an incised frame. A blank wall defines the building above the entry. The building terminates with an overhanging, un-ornamented, 3’ wide cornice. The ground floor is 12’ high, while the second through fourth stories are all 10’ high. The remaining stories are all 12’ high. The wall on the left side is a blank wall with the Media Five Building adjoining it. The right side wall runs down Richards Street. It is also austere, but gains some relief via its fenestration and vertical circulation tower. The ventilation tower projects 7’- 8” from the 8’- 6” wide wall of inset balconies. A metal slat ventilator breaks the wall surface of the 25’- 6” wide, vertical circulation tower at each floor, and two pairs of obscure glass, inward opening, awning windows provide light and ventilation to the restrooms on each floor. Melim Building HABS No. HI-572 (Page No. 3) The restrooms’ exterior wall projects 4’ beyond that of the vertical circulation tower. The ground floor is dominated by the Ground Floor Restaurant. It has a recessed entry with a glass door and three fixed single-pane windows to the right of the entry. A plain, concrete kick plate is below the windows. To the right of the windows are three concrete panels behind which is the kitchen. A rectangular, metal, three-slat ventilator is in each panel. A 3’ wide canopy runs above the entry, windows, and vents. Behind the building is a four-story, reinforced concrete parking lot with a capacity for 350 automobiles. It opened in 1960. It is a dual ramp structure with split-level floors, with the lowest level being below the grade of the building’s Queen Street façade. The structure has four bays running along Richards Street with the left, mountain-side bay providing access to the structure. The second from the left bay is a solid masonry wall scored in panels while the next bay originally provided an exit, but it is now closed by a metal gate. These three bays are each 34’ wide, while the right-most, ocean side, bay is only 25’-4” wide. To each side of the solid wall, each floor is open with a 3’ high, concrete parapet. The split-level roof also provides parking. The ground level of the parking structure is dedicated to automobile repair and service and includes an office structure constructed of concrete blocks. The parking garage is five bays deep, with automobile circulation accommodated in the Diamond Head and `Ewa end bays, with a pair of up and down ramps at each side. Concrete I beams support each floor and are carried by cross beams supported by square, concrete columns, set approximately 33’ on center across the width of the parking structure. The height between the floor and cross beams is 8’. In 1995 the building underwent a major upgrade, following plans prepared by the firm of Daniel Mann Johnson & Mendenhall (DMJM). At that time the storefronts and canopies were upgraded, and the interior lobbies and corridors were remodeled. It is at this time that the granite cladding was applied to the first story, with Takenaka Corporation installing the stone. Over the past fifty years all the office spaces have been renovated. Historical Context: Melim Service and Supply Company was founded by Cliff Melim and Eddie Yamasaki in 1924, when the partners Melim Building HABS No. HI-572 (Page No. 4) opened a service station at the corner of Queen and Richards streets. In 1932, the company expanded by building a second service station at Keeaumoku and Beretania streets. A third station followed in 1939, at 8th Avenue and Waialae Avenue. Also in that year, the firm demolished their original Queen Street station and constructed a larger structure. Also at the end of the 1930s the company constructed a tire recapping plant at 505 Waikamilo Road, one of the first such operations in Hawaii. The company was sufficiently successful that in the midst of the Depression, in 1934, it erected and maintained as a public service the large scoreboard and public address system used at Honolulu Stadium. Following the war, automobile ownership soared in Hawaii. In 1938 automobile registration stood at 43,785. In 1945 the number of automobiles on island had grown to 52,527; and a dozen years later, in 1957, automobile registration stood at 159,227, a 329.8% increase since 1945. This tremendous influx of automobiles resulted in myriad needs having to be addressed, including the providing of gasoline, service and parts. Melim Service and Supply, along with many others, moved to meet this new demand. The company added a station at Sheridan and Kapiolani during the late 1940s, and by 1953 had added another at Nuuanu Avenue and Kukui Street, and a year later another at the Kailua Shopping Center. In 1957 yet another station was opened at 1517 Liliha Street, bringing the total number of service stations in the Melim chain to eight, in addition to the tire recapping plant. The latter had grown to be the largest in Hawaii and had the capability of handling not only car and truck tires, but also airplane tires, providing tires not only to local commercial airlines but also the military. Due to a glut in service stations throughout the city, Melim began divesting itself of these operations during 1958 and 1959, and by 1959 only their Queen Street and Kailua stations remained in operation. The Kailua station was sold two years later. The sale of the stations heralded a new direction for Melim Service and Supply. With T. Clifford Melim Jr., now at the helm the company decided to concentrate on recapping tires and the providing of parking in the downtown area. In 1959 the company hired Ernie Hara to design a new four-story office building next to their downtown service station, as well as a 350 car, four story Melim Building HABS No. HI-572 (Page No. 5) parking garage. The new building opened in 1960 and featured a four-story tower at the corner of Queen and Richards, in the location of the current entry bay.