News Building boasted quality architecture and journalism

If there is any question of the significance of the historic Advertiser building at the corner of South Street and Kapiolani Boulevard, consider this: Every day, seven days a week, for more than 80 years, various reporters, editors, production crew and printers chronicled almost every aspect of the daily life of Hawaii.

That is an extraordinary 29,000 days in one building in which the people who put out the newspaper kept us informed about what was going on in our town and our state.

Before going any further, it must be said that there were just a few breaks in that string when the electricity gave out and The Advertiser either didn’t print or was late, including Dec. 7, 1941.

Nonetheless, it would be difficult to find another structure in Hawaii with that legacy. Bank buildings and office buildings and retail stores don’t come close to matching that significance.

The Advertiser building, often simply called the News Building, was built in 1929. The Pacific Commercial Advertiser (in 1921 it became The Honolulu Advertiser) newspaper was founded in 1856 but moved around a number of times as it was bought and sold about every 10 years in its first 40 years of existence.

The architectural firm Emory & Webb designed the News Building of concrete with a stucco finish, terra-cotta decorative elements and a red-clay hip and valley roof. The building’s exterior features Renaissance Revival influences, particularly in the entry flanked by curved concrete railings and fluted pilasters with Ionic columns.

The front of the building housed news offices, the rear of the building was the pressroom, and at a later date, the top floor was devoted to radio station KGU.

Emory & Webb’s designs had quite an impact on Honolulu. The firm’s work included the Hawaii Theatre, Blaisdell Hotel, Kuali‘i (the Cookes’ tudor mansion in Manoa), Castle Hall dormitory and the Cooke Art Gallery at Punahou School, among others.

Just inside the front entrance of the News Building is a grand staircase constructed of ceramic tiles and terra-cotta balusters. They framed what was once an open tropical courtyard and later an enclosed art gallery, both of which are no longer there. The interior columns and decorative ceiling on the first floor are of particular architectural note.

It should also be noted that the original building has remained pretty intact throughout its life. The exceptions were in 1933 when another notable Hawaii architect, C.W. Dickey, made modest alterations and additions to the second floor and when the open garden on the ground floor was enclosed.

A plain concrete block building was constructed behind the historic building in 1963 to house a bigger press and provide more production and distribution space. And a stained-glass window designed by Erica Karawina was installed at the front of the building in 1972. Karawina has numerous other works in Honolulu, including the four large-faceted glass murals around the crown of the Kalanimoku Hale state office building.

Earlier we mentioned the people who came and went in their daily work of keeping the community informed and entertained. Many were real characters and their ghosts still wander around the place.

George Chaplin became a legend during his 28 years as editor-in-chief. Bucky Buchwach was a real promoter who became editor. Former Star-Bulletin editor and columnist A.A. "Bud" Smyser was respected and honored by business leaders for his unstinting community work. (The Advertiser and Star-Bulletin shared the building and business operations under a joint operating agreement that lasted from 1962 until 2001.)

And who can forget Eddie Sherman. Bob Krauss was an institution for many years. There were many others as well.

Someone counted only four significant historic buildings in Kakaako: the Ossipoff-designed IBM building, the 1900 cut-stone Pumping Station on Ala Moana, the stately brick Royal Brewery building on Queen Street and the News Building.

With so few treasures left, the community must fight hard to preserve them.

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Keep Hawaii Hawaii is a monthly column on island architecture and urban planning. Robert M. Fox, president of Fox Hawaii Inc., studied architecture in California and Jpapan. He was one of the founders of the Historic Hawai’i Foundation and the Hawaii Architectural Foundation. Comments can be sent to keephawaiihawaii@staradvertiser.com.