As a mentor to graduate students at the University of Hawaii School of Architecture in Manoa, a consultant on a historical site on Molokai or a jurist for the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards in Bangkok, Spencer Leineweber was passionate about architecture and what it meant for people.
Leineweber, internationally recognized for her tireless advocacy of architectural preservation and a key figure in Hawaii’s architecture community, died June 21 at home. She was 68.
Chairwoman of the graduate program at the School of Architecture and director of the school’s Heritage Center, Leineweber was also a practicing architect and a consultant on many projects, particularly those involving preservation and restoration.
To Leineweber, architecture was about much more than buildings and designs.
"She was dedicated to the people and places that tell Hawaii’s stories," said Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation. "She was a staunch protector of the heritage, the historic sites, the culture of these islands, and she shared that aloha through her work."
Leineweber’s interests spanned the gamut of Hawaii’s architectural history. She was instrumental with numerous restoration projects at the Hawaiian Mission Houses museum and led a team of doctoral students who designed the Kanewai Cultural Resource Center at the UH Hawai‘inuiakea School of Hawaiian Knowledge. She also played a role in the preservation of countless other projects including the Kalaupapa Hansen’s Disease Settlement, the restoration of homes in Ewa Villages and renovation of Iolani Palace.
She received a National AIA Design Honor Award, believed to be the first Hawaii architect to garner such recognition, for her work on Hawaii’s Plantation Village in Waipahu. She also won a National Trust for Historic Preservation Award for Uchida Farms, designed as a living-history project depicting life on a Kona coffee farm in the early 1900s.
"Her scope and her knowledge and her excitement about the places that showcased Hawaii’s uniqueness was unparalleled," Faulkner said. "Much of her work was research-based. It looked into who built them, why they built them, how they built them and what was special about the construction or the design or the finishes. And then she took that information and was able to do design work or construction drawings that would protect the character, keep them compatible with what the needs are today, and to ensure it could live on into the future."
Scott Wilson, Honolulu chapter president of the American Institute of Architects, said Leineweber, a New Jersey native, "treasured this local community that she adopted."
He added, "She became a real champion for the history and the culture of Hawaii. She felt it was a shame that we were just bulldozing whole blocks of Chinatown or that we were wiping out plantation villages around the sugar cane camps."
Wilson described Leineweber as "a force of nature" who excelled in architectural design, education and public service. "I think you’d be hard-pressed to find any architect in the last 100 years in Hawaii who excelled to the degree that she did in all three facets," Wilson said. "Because any one of those facets is a career in itself."
Glenn Mason, Leineweber’s architectural partner for more than a decade, said that while she wanted to preserve Hawaii’s history, she also studied architecture and traveled around the world to see how other cultures lived. She taught or lectured throughout Asia, absorbing more knowledge along the way. "She never stopped wanting to know more and to learn," he said.
Only this past spring, Leineweber completed her doctorate at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at Australian National University.
Daniel Friedman, UH architecture school dean, said one of the reasons he took his post was the opportunity to work with Leineweber. Respected and revered among students and colleagues, "she took very strong positions, and she was fearless in her advocacy for the historical and urban integrity of Honolulu and Hawaii," he said.
Leineweber is survived by two daughters, Amy Hinkley and Eliza Lathrop; a brother, Norman Armitage; sisters Adra Carr and Amy Armitage; and six grandchildren.
A memorial service for Leineweber will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Hawaiian Mission Houses museum. Visitation begins at 4 p.m. Aloha attire. Donations can be made in her name to the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation, Hawaiian Mission Houses, or the UH School of Architecture.
