The Old Police Station
51 Merchant Street, Honolulu
The Old Honolulu Police Station, Photo by Nancy Bannick from the Historic Hawaii Foundation Archives
The Old Honolulu Police Station building was constructed in 1930-31 in the Spanish colonial style. It replaced an earlier police station building circa 1886 which indicates the department's growth and reputation.
Architect: Louis E. Davis, Hawaii
Builder: F.M. Dias
The building is constructed of sandstone from Waianae, on the leeward coast of Oahu. Roja Alicante marble was imported from France and the doors were made of Philippine mahogany. (Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin 9/30/1931.)
The land was purchased in 1885 by the Minister of the Interior under King Kalakaua and construction for a police station building began. The Chinatown fire of 1886 destroyed the King Street Police Station requiring the operations to move to this not-yet-completed police station.
In 1930, the orginal building was demolished to construct the present building (pictured above), which was completed a year later. A decade later after martial law was declared in the wake of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the first floor of the building housed the "Alien Property Custodian" which confiscated property owned by foreign citizens.
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