Joseph W. Podmore Building, historic building in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, USA

The Joseph W. Podmore Building is a two-story commercial structure at the corner of Merchant and Alakea streets in Honolulu, built in 1902 from dark lava stone quarried locally. It displays Richardsonian Romanesque style with massive dressed stone blocks, a hipped roof, and decorative stone elements including a balustrade along the roofline.

Built in 1902 by Joseph W. Podmore, an English sailor turned Honolulu businessman, it was rented out from the start: a tailor and a decorator took the ground floor and the Mercantile Printing Company the upper floor. In 1907 owner Peter Cushman Jones gave land and building to the local Board of Missions, whose headquarters it remained until their Mission Memorial Building was finished in 1916; their monthly paper The Friend came off the upstairs press. Tenants later included the Honolulu Advertiser and DHL Air Cargo's first Honolulu office, and when it joined the National Register on 24 March 1983 the Bon-Bon Cafe was the main tenant.

The building is named after Joseph W. Podmore, an English businessman who built it as an investment property. It shows how early residents of Honolulu used local materials and created business spaces downtown to support their communities.

The building stands at the corner of Merchant and Alakea streets in downtown Honolulu, a short walk from the city's historic core. The main entrance is on the corner behind a stone column, and the only arch is over the side doorway on Merchant Street. It is a working commercial building, so plan to view the lava-stone exterior and roofline from the street.

The building's only arch is over the side doorway on Merchant Street, while the main entrance sits on the corner behind a stone column. Look for stone bands of alternating sizes, 8 and 16 inches, and light reddish mortar lines between the dark lava blocks.