Building Industry Magazine - July 2014 - (Page 82)

FRANK HAINES A Walk With a Legend BY PRISCILLA PÉREZ BILLIG F typical Hawaiian house with rank Haines can take a little sign saying "Lemmon a hike. And, at 93, this Architect," Haines says. "He retired uber-architect does so had taken the two-car garage, with the aplomb of a man cut windows in it and that's one-quarter his age. where the office was when I Most Saturdays, carrying first started. Lemmon's propprop a cane he rarely uses, Haines erty is now one of the lots the leads a 2 1/2-hour walking Trump Tower is built on." tour of Honolulu's 23 most Becoming a licensed archiesteemed and significant tect requires a master's degree, historic buildings. And he plus a few years of experience can spin a story about each working with an architect, one, some details not found followed by a detailed examiexami in any official record. nations, Haines says. "I didn't Haines is one of the get my license until 1953 and founding principals of we became Lemmon, Freeth Architects Hawaii, whose & Haines. When Lemmon projects include the Prince and Freeth retired in 1973, the Kuhio Federal Building, firm became Haines, Jones, Shriner's Hospital, Kaiser Farrell, White & Gima. Permanente's Honolulu Clinic "It got so the telephone and Moanalua Medical answering girl didn't want any Center, Oahu Country Club, more names," Haines says. "So Waikiki-Kapahulu Library, we were sitting around the concon John A. Burns School of ference room one Saturday and Medicine, restoration of asked, 'What are we going to call Aliiolani Hale Judiciary Architect Frank Haines' first office on Saratoga Road in Waikiki ourselves?' At that time we were Building, the Federated the largest architectural firm in States of Micronesia Capitol building and three luxury hotels in the People's Republic of Hawaii, so we decided to call ourselves Architects Hawaii." Haines taught at the University of Hawaii School of China. As an advocate for pedestrian-friendly open spaces, Haines was the designer of what he calls "the most significant Architecture from 1965 to 1991, where he created the Ethics and Management course. He edited two local publicacorner, the heart of downtown Honolulu: Bishop Square." tions: Architecture in Hawaii: A Chronological Survey and Graduating with an AB degree with a major in architecPohaku, the Art and Architecture of Stonework in Hawaii. ture from Princeton in 1941, Haines joined the Navy folHe is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, lowing the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was sent to Miami Member Emeritus, and in 2009 the Historic Hawaii to train as a gunnery officer on a destroyer escort, after Foundation established the Frank Haines Award to honor which he was assigned to a ship in the Pacific. an individual's outstanding lifetime achievements in "I served in the South Pacific and returned to Hawaii preserving historic and cultural places of Hawaii. Fifty-five several times, so I got to see what Honolulu was like," years ago, Haines co-founded Exploring Downtown, the Haines says. "Otherwise, I might never have gotten here. Honolulu walking tour in which he shares his extensive Life is filled with lucky circumstances like that." knowledge of Hawaiian architectural history. In 1948, after using the GI Bill to earn a master's degree Building Industry Hawaii caught up with Haines and from MIT, he moved to Hawaii and began his architecture asked him to talk about his career and insights into the career out of a garage behind the home of architect Cyril evolution of Honolulu's urban landscape. Lemmon. "I walked down Saratoga Road and there was a 82 | BUILDING INDUSTRY HAWAII | JULY 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Building Industry Magazine - July 2014

TOP 25 CONTRACTORS
HIGH-RISES: NEW DESIGNS, OLD TRADITIONS
FRANK HAINES: MASTER ARCHITECT
WOEDA CULTIVATES WEST-SIDE SUCCESS
NEWS BEAT
Datebook
Contracts Awarded
Low Bids
Spotlight On Success: The Senior Residence at Iwilei
News Makers
New Products
Faces
Best Practices

Building Industry Magazine - July 2014