Museums / It’s no secret. Governor Linda Lingle does not live at Washington Place, also known as the Governor’s Mansion. She is the first of 12 Governors of Hawai’i since 1921 to not reside in the ornately decorated royal retreat just steps away busy South Beretania Street.

She has taken up residence just behind the mansion in a 5,000-square-foot, four-bedroom house that is the new private residence for Lingle and governors to come.

In the mid-1970s, First Lady Ariyoshi had an epiphany. She recognized a connection between the furnishings, paintings and artifacts in the house, especially the original four front rooms, and the gentle spirit and legacy Queen Lili’uokalani brought to the home in her 55 years living at Washington Place. She noticed the wear and tear of more than 50 years of families residing in the home and considered its preservation to be of utmost importance. She began to catalog the furnishings and other important artifacts.

First Lady Cayetano continued Ariyoshi’s initial push by establishing the Washington Place Foundation in 1999. The foundation raised money through donations and built the adjacent private residence behind the mansion. Though Washington Place is still recognized as the governor’s official residence and official state functions are still held there, the focus has now shifted to one of preservation, restoration and the continued remembrance and honoring of Queen Lili’uokalani.

Her house is your house

‘People know Washington Place as the governor’s home and some are reluctant to come because of that,’ explains Corinne Chun Fujimoto, curator of Washington Place. ‘For 80 years it was a private residence, for 80 years it was the governor’s residence, but this is the next era. We want people to feel that they’re always welcome here. After all, it has always been a house of hospitality.’

Volunteer docents lead tours through the restored mansion that was built between 1842 and 1847 by wealthy trader Captain John Dominis. He spared no money constructing the mansion to please his wife who left New York to join him in Honolulu with their son.

Although he was lost at sea on a final voyage to furnish the house, his wife stayed put and raised her boy, John Owen Dominis, with the other ali’i children. She took in borders to pay the rent and decorated the house with Victorian furnishings, staunch in her efforts to remain un-Hawaiian. The west front room in the house is decorated in the style with two rare portraits of an ali’i boy and girl dating back to 1825, just after the time of first western contact.

To the east of the main door way is Queen Lili’uokalani’s parlor, a room where she would receive guests during At Home Day. The first Thursday of every month the mansion was open to the public and people could come to pay their respect to the queen for a sit and a quick chat. Today the kahili that were used in her funeral procession stand in the room in her remembrance.

When she moved into Washington Place as a new bride to Owen Dominis in 1862, she began to redecorate the home in her own native Hawaiian tastes. She brought in koa tables and benches and a massive bed frame, all of which remain today. Later in her life, during her house arrest (during the annexation) at Washington Place, her attention turned toward the garden. She went about cataloging her botanical collection from around the world. The hand-written document remains in an archive.

‘Her connection to the people and her aloha still remain today. She had a deep feeling for her responsibility as ali’i. No matter what happened in her life she remained constant, focused. Steadfast–that was her motto, which is entirely appropriate,’ says Fujimoto, of Lili’uokalani.

‘Washington Place is built against the backdrop of the most important events that changed Hawai’i’s history forever. What we hope it will do is give a glimpse into that past and through the queen’s example, be an inspiration for all.’

High honor

Just last month Washington Place was recognized as a national historic landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the highest honor a historic site can receive. The designation was not given because of the architectural value of the estate, being one of the oldest standing structures from that period, but for the mansion’s association with Queen Lili’uokalani.

The Washington Place Foundation is now looking forward to a massive restoration effort encompassing interior and exterior renovations. A cultural landscape is planned based on the documents outlining and cataloging the Queen’s botanical collection. A detailed redrawing of the house’s architecture is underway for submission as permanent record to the Library of Congress. The upstairs portion of the house is planned to be restored and a gallery developed of the Queen’s collections. And oral histories and other artifacts are to be gathered for a more complete picture of the home as a whole through the queen’s life.

These projects remain temporarily on the horizon while a foundation of studies and documentation is conducted. The findings will enable the foundation to make decisions on how to proceed with the very fine historic restoration.

‘Washington Place is the last standing example of internal culture from that period, ‘ says Fujimoto. ‘We will do the appropriate research and secure the necessary funding to do the restoration proper and well.’

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