The Mabel Smyth Memorial Building is a historic building in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the islan ...

. It was designed by

Charles W. Dickey Charles William “C.W.” Dickey (6 July 1871 – 25 April 1942) was an American architect famous for developing a distinctive style of Hawaiian architecture. He was known not only for designing some of the most famous buildings in Hawaii— ...

in 1937 and built in 1941. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

on February 3, 1994.

Background

In 1937,

Mabel Leilani Smyth Mabel Leilani Smyth (September 1, 1892 – March 24, 1936) was a nursing administrator and the first Director of the Public Nursing Service for the Territory of Hawaii. She was of Hawaiian and Irish-English ancestry. Palama Settlement in Kalihi, w ...

died suddenly after serving as the superintendent of the

Territory of Hawaii The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Panalāʻau o Hawaiʻi'') was an organized incorporated territories of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from Ap ...

Public Nursing Service for eight years. In response to Smyth's death, a

fund drive Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

raised about $100,000 (the equivalent of $ in ) with the intent of creating a memorial, and local architect

submitted plans for what would become the Mabel Smyth Memorial Building. With

Architecture

The building has an L-shaped structure with two stories, made of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

, and with a tiled

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thu ...

. A stairway from the parking lot up to the main entrance features a railing with an 'ape leaf design, and the same motif is repeated above the door in a panel that also includes a

caduceus The caduceus (☤; ; la, cādūceus, from grc-gre, κηρύκειον "herald's wand, or staff") is the staff carried by Hermes in Greek mythology and consequently by Hermes Trismegistus in Greco-Egyptian mythology. The same staff was also ...

, as well as in smaller panels below the second story windows. The

massing Massing is a term in architecture which refers to the perception of the general shape and form as well as size of a building. Massing in architectural theory Massing refers to the structure in three dimensions (form), not just its outline from ...

of the building is simple, and double doors on the second floor are carved with a

torch ginger ''Etlingera elatior'' (also known as torch ginger, ginger flower, red ginger lily, torch lily, wild ginger, ''combrang, bunga kantan'', Philippine wax flower, ගොඩ ඕලු (goda olu), ගොඩ නෙලුම් (goda nelum), සිද් ...

design. A renovation in 2000 led to major alterations of the building's

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. An interior designer is someone who plans, researches, coordin ...

Construction

In January 1940, a site was chosen for the building on the grounds of

Queen's Hospital Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (Saara Aalto song), 2018 * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", a song by ...

, oriented diagonally toward the intersection of Punchbowl and Beretania Streets. Although a different site for the building had been purchased for $15,000 in March 1937 ($ in ), it was not used.

Use

The building was dedicated on January 4, 1941, with an opening ceremony that involved Hawaiian chants and music. Plans were made almost immediately to provide a

refresher training A refresher, in English legal phraseology, is an additional fee paid to counsel in a prolonged case. The fee applies when a case on trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form o ...

for nurses, which included a variety of demonstrations and

lectures A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...

. In April 1941, a registered nurse at Queen's Hospital described the newly opened building as "the headquarters for Hawaii's professional nursing and medical organizations". It housed offices for various local nurses' associations, the Board of Registration of Nurses, and the Hawaii Territorial Medical Association and Honolulu County Medical Society. Additional amenities included a

medical library A health or medical library is designed to assist physicians, health professionals, students, patients, consumers, medical researchers, and information specialists in finding health and scientific information to improve, update, assess, or eva ...

and an auditorium with air conditioning.

Designations

The Mabel Smyth Memorial Building was added to the

on February 3, 1994. It is also a Hawaiʻi State Historic Preservation Division (SHPD) Historic Site with Historic Site Number 80-14-9765.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places, state=collapsed Monuments and memorials in Hawaii Buildings and structures in Honolulu Buildings and structures completed in 1941 Art Deco architecture in Hawaii Hawaiian architecture