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Ainahau Was Torn Down in 1955
Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii
Princess Kaiulani's childhood home was built on ten
acres of Waikiki land that was deeded to herr when she was born.
Her home and estate were known as "Ainahau". Her father left
Ainahau to the City of Honolulu when he died with a request
to turn it into a public park. His request was never honored.
Photo Credit: Hawaii State Archives
The ten acre Ainahau Estate in Waikiki was built on ten acres land
that was given to Hawaiian Princess Kaiulani when she was born,
by her godmother Princess Ruth Keelikolani. Princess Kaiulani's father,
Archibald Scott Cleghorn, built a two story home on that property for
the tiny princess and her mother Princess Miriam Likelike. The
estate was named "Ainahau" and it became a center of social activity
in Honolulu.
Princess Likelike died in 1887 at the age of 36 and Princess Kaiulani
died in 1899 at the age of 23. When her father Archibald Cleghorn died in 1910
he left the Ainahau Estate to the city of Honolulu and he asked them
to turn the Ainahau gardens and grounds into a public park.
The city of Honolulu never fulfilled Cleghorn's request to
turn the estate into a park. At the time of Cleghorn's death, Walter
Dillingham and city officials were planning to dredge the Ala Wai
Canal and drain the Waikiki area, and they knew that would
dramatically increase the value of land in the Waikiki area.
Honolulu sold Ainahau to investors.
Dilllingham's Hawaiian Dredging Company began working on the Ala Wai
Canal in 1921 and it was completed in 1928. The canal dried up
the streams and lily ponds on the Ainahau estate and in 1955
Princess Kaiulani's two-story Ainahau home was torn down to make
room for hotels, apartment buildings, and office buidings.
Today the Princess Kaiulani Hotel sits at the former driveway
entrance to the Ainahau Estate. You can see, in the above picture,
that Princess Kaiulani's Ainahau house was located across the
street from Waikiki's historic Moana Hotel, which opened for the
first time in 1901.
The Princess Kaiulani Hotel offers a tour of the
former Ainahau Estate several days a week, but since the
estate no longer exists, it is really more of a
tour of exhihits related to Ainahau and Pricess Kaiulani.
See also:
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More About Princess Kaiulani's Ainahau Estate
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Hawaii's First Banyan Was Planted at Ainahau
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Waikiki Historic Trail Marker #8: Ainahau
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Photo of Princess Victoria Kaiulani
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Photo of Princess Miriam Likelike
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Related Links
The Hawaiian Monarchy
Islands of Hawaii
Hawaii Travel Newsletter
Elsewhere on the Web
Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame: Princess Likelike
Biography of Her Husband Archibald Cleghorn
Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen
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