Linekona School, Educational center at Victoria Street, Honolulu, United States.
Linekona School is a 1908 school building facing Thomas Square, combining Colonial Revival symmetry, a large columned portico and a balustraded roofline with Romanesque Revival round-arched upper windows. Its stone-block facade is rendered concrete, described as the best example of that craftsmanship in Hawaiʻi. It now houses the Honolulu Museum of Art School.
The school's institutional lineage starts with the Oahu Charity School of 1831, for a few years the only English-language school in Hawaiʻi. It became the Town Free School in 1851, passed to the public superintendent in 1859, and in 1865 was renamed Mililani School for Girls. Lower grades later formed Kaiulani Elementary, while the upper line became Honolulu High School in 1895 and President William McKinley High School in 1907. The 1908 building on the former Maertens property facing Thomas Square became Linekona Elementary School in 1923, when McKinley High moved to S. King Street.
The building's name recalls its 1923 role as Linekona (Lincoln) Elementary School, and it now houses the Honolulu Museum of Art School, formerly the Academy Art Center at Linekona. Its studios host exhibitions of the island's folk and contemporary artists, and a lending collection serves educators, students and community groups.
The school occupies the 1908 former Linekona Elementary building facing Thomas Square, with its columned portico on the main facade. In October 2021 work began on a courtyard and a 2,000-square-foot expansion of the kiln house, so parts of the grounds may be under construction. Enter from the Thomas Square side to reach the studios and exhibition spaces.
The concrete blocks of the facade were specially tinted to mimic the appearance of local Hawaiian lava rock, giving the building an earthy, natural character. This detail reveals how the architect sought to blend international design traditions with the island's natural features.
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