NRHP Reference # 98001288 Added to NRHP 30 October 1998 | Year built 1926 | |
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Location 2950 Mānoa Road, Honolulu, Hawaii | ||
Salvation Army Waiʻoli Tea Room has been closed since December 30, 2014, and is located at 2950 Mānoa Road, at the intersection of Oahu Avenue, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the island of Oahu, in the U.S. state of Hawaii. It was added to National Register of Historic Places listings on Oahu on October 30, 1998. It currently operates under the name Waiʻoli Tea Room & Bakery. Within the property is a replica of the ʻĀinahau grass guest house that Robert Louis Stevenson occupied in 1889 when he visited Princess Ka'iulani and her father Archibald Scott Cleghorn.
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History
Located in Mānoa Valley, the Salvation Army Waiʻoli Tea Room was formally dedicated In 1922, as part of the Salvation Army Girls' Home program to teach young women marketable job skills. The Salvation Army shelter was one of several institutions in Hawaii of that era that provided care for those in need. Other such institutions of the time included the Kaiulani Home for Girls, the Castle Home, and the Catholic Orphanage.
The structure was designed by Emory & Webb, a successful Honolulu architectural firm of the era. Walter Leavitte Emory was born November 10, 1868, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. He relocated to the Territory of Hawaii in 1898. Marshall Hickman Webb was born May 7, 1869 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sometime between 1908 and 1910, the two formed the architectural firm of Emory & Webb. Emory died in 1929.
The only original contributing building to the October 30, 1998 designation of National Register of Historic Places listings on Oahu is the main one-story lava rock and shingle bungalow. When it was built in 1922, it had one L-shaped wing with an open lānai. The 1926 wing addition created a U-shaped building. The current entrance is a 1960 addition.
Robert Louis Stevenson's grass house
Located on the Waiʻoli premises is what has become known as the Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Grass House. It is in fact a replica of the original that once existed there. The original was erected as a guest house at the ʻĀinahau estate by the father of Princess Ka'iulani, businessman Archibald Scott Cleghorn. In 1889, Stevenson and his family resided in the ʻĀinahau guest house. Ka'iulani and the author spent much time together on the estate. While Stevenson was smitten with the princess, she did not reciprocate. Ka'iulani died in 1899. When Cleghorn died in 1910, he willed the estate to the Territory of Hawaii, specifying it be maintained as a park in Ka'iulani's memory. The Princess Ka'iulani Hotel now stands where the ʻĀinahau estate once was. When the hut was auctioned off in 1926, it was moved to the current location. Although the Salvation Army initially did a complete restoration of the old hut, it was rebuilt entirely in 1983. In 2003, the hut was destroyed by high winds. The hut was finally restored and reopened in 2012.
Current operation
Still owned by the Salvation Army and currently operating under the name Waiʻoli Tea Room & Bakery, the facility is managed by Brian's Restaurant LLC. The Salvation Army tea room concept itself was based on the high tea traditions of British Columbia emigrants living in Hawaii at the time it was built. Waiʻoli uses "high tea" and "afternoon tea" to mean the same thing.