Restorationists deal in drawings, not prose, and eight architectural students are preparing precise, measured drawings of a number of Island buildings as the first step in restoring them to bygone splendor.
The students, under the direction of Melvin M. Rotsch, professor of history of architecture at Texas A&M University, have just completed the only measured drawings of Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in America.
Charles Peterson, prominent Philadelphia architect and one of the nation’s leading restorationists, described the Palace drawings as “excellent and very professional.”
The students are here under the auspices of the Historic American Buildings Survey, which is under the administration of the National Park Service. Several of them will leave for Lahaina, Maui, this week to work with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation in preparing data there.
“These kinds of drawings are essential,” Peterson said. “Restorationists work with drawings, not words.”
A minutely detailed drawing of the Palace was prepared by E. Davis Chauviere, 20, of Waco, Tex. He is a senior at Texas A&M University.
For the past month, Glenn Gunter of Kailua and Ronald Saiki of Honolulu, both University of Hawaii students, and Alan Maurigame of Kauai, a student at Montana State University, have scampered around the Palace, including the rooftop, gathering measurements for Chauviere.
The Junior League is raising funds for actual restoration of the Palace. State Comptroller Val U. Marciel administers some State funds for the project.
The League is selling advance tickets to the film “Hawaii” to help raise money for the restoration. A spokesman said it is hoped that the Palace will be converted into a “lively” building, not one with a museum atmosphere.
Peterson said he would like to see the Palace restored to its condition in 1893, the year the monarchy ended. He said it did not change much between 1882 — the year it was completed — and 1893.
“Electric lights were substituted for gas about 1886,” he said.
Every Sunday, “Back in the Day” looks at an article that ran on this date in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The items are verbatim, so don’t blame us today for yesteryear’s bad grammar.
