Historic Hawai‘i Foundation
680 Iwilei Road, Suite #690, Honolulu, HI 96817
Phone: 808-523-2900 Fax: 808-523-0800
Email: webmaster@historichawaii.org
Copyright 2003-2009 Historic Hawaii Foundation unless otherwise noted
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Photo by Rae Huo
What is it?
The white chapel located on the Diamond Head side of the Kapi‘olani Community College (KCC) campus has always stood out from KCC’s low-lying, 1980s architecture. Built in 1925, the chapel hosted church services for the Fort Ruger military community, O‘ahu’s earliest U.S. Army coastal defense fortification, established in 1909. “People feel that [the chapel] is an important structure,” says Carol Hoshiko, KCC’s dean for Culinary, Hospitality and College Advancement. “It’s different from the rest of the buildings. It’s an older building, and reminiscent of times before.”
Since KCC took up residence at the base of Diamond Head Crater some 35 years ago, the chapel has served strictly as an educational facility, housing continuing-education classes, such as taiko classes taught by Kenny Endo’s Taiko Center of the Pacific, community service
HISTORIC HAWAI‘I FOUNDATION
functions and large gatherings. “There is not an overabundance of large areas to meet in [at KCC],” says Hoshiko, “and the chapel offers that.”
What threatens it?
According to Hoshiko, thechapel is structurally sound, but is in need of a little TLC. “It is currently on our repair-and-maintenance list,” she says. “There are 34 projects on this campus for repair and maintenance that we’re hoping will be done at some point. The chapel is No. 9 on that list.”
KCC has invested money in the chapel’s upkeep, most notably in the early to mid 1990s, when KCC conducted $125,000 worth of interior work and $150,000 for paint stripping, repainting and re-roofing. The improvements have made a huge difference in the chapel’s usability, says Kenny Endo, who has been practicing taiko there since 1990. “In the early years, half of the roof leaked so badly that the chapel would fill with two inches of water,” says Endo. “The floor was so messed up we had to wear shoes or protective footwear. One of the first things [KCC] did was fix the roof, and that helped. Then, later, they fixed the floor. [The chapel’s] really a lot more usable now.”
The chapel currently needs approximately $571,000 worth of refurbishment work, including a new paint job, and some roof and interior repairs.
What can be done?
Hoshiko was unable to provide a time frame for when the chapel would be refurbished. “I believe the community members, the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation and KCC can work together to garner support and resources for the chapel to be repaired and maintained in good condition,” Hoshiko says. She’s also interested in forming a Friends of the Chapel group that would bring together representatives from the community’s public and private sectors to help raise funds and develop a collaborborative plan for the chapel's future. Anyone interested can call 734-9567.
Chapel at Kapiolani Community College
(Honolulu, Oahu)
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More About the Most Endangered Historic Sites in Hawaii
Story by
Jenny Quill, Honolulu Magazine
