Kakaako Pumping Station, Sewerage pumping station in Honolulu, United States.
The Kakaʻako Pumping Station is a Richardsonian Romanesque building designed by Oliver G. Traphagen, with exterior walls of local lava rock, large arched windows, roofs of green tile and a 76-foot smokestack. It stands on an acre of land at Ala Moana Boulevard and Keawe Street, between Kewalo Basin and Downtown Honolulu.
The building was constructed in 1900 to power Honolulu's first professional sewage disposal system. It represented a major shift in how the city managed waste and public health infrastructure.
The station's walls are built of local lava rock, not bluestone, and its green tile roofs and 76-foot smokestack mark it as one of Oliver G. Traphagen's bold stone public works, a type he also built in Duluth, Minnesota. Traphagen designed the Moana Hotel on Waikiki Beach as well. A McMenamins brewery and restaurant in Tigard, Oregon, was built from this building's design.
The building stands at the corner of Ala Moana Boulevard and Keawe Street, on an acre between Kewalo Basin and Downtown Honolulu. It has been vacant for years and is being restored by the nonprofit Hawaii Architectural Foundation under the Hawaii Community Development Authority, so expect to view it from the street rather than inside.
The Ala Moana Pumping Station took over its functions in 1940, after which the Kakaʻako building stood vacant for many years. It is now under the jurisdiction of the Hawaii Community Development Authority and is being slowly restored by the nonprofit Hawaii Architectural Foundation. A McMenamins brewery and restaurant in Tigard, Oregon, was built based on its design.
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