Historic preservationists are pushing a new plan to save the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, a World War I monument, and its pool, where Hawaii Olympian Duke Kahanamoku once swam.
Commissioned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the plan replaces the Natatorium swim basin’s seawall with individual chevrons, which prevent wave action against the bleachers, yet allow water to circulate in the basin. It was developed as a lower-cost rehabilitation proposal by Hans Krock, emeritus professor of ocean and resources engineering at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Alfred Yee, consulting engineer for Pearl Harbor’s USS Arizona Memorial.
Mo Radke, Friends of the Natatorium president, said the trust plan provides the city with the first viable way to save the historic structure. Radke said it’s preferable to the $18.4 million plan announced in May 2013 by Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Mayor Kirk Caldwell to demolish the pool and bleachers and develop a public memorial beach at the site, which has been closed since 1979. While that plan was supported by the Kaimana Beach Coalition, it has proved unpopular with preservationists.
“The new trust plan gives people with the muscle memory of saying ‘no’ a reason to pause,” Radke said. “If the city would say it’s willing to let Friends of the Natatorium and the National Trust move forward and give us two years, I could show you the money.”
If the alternative is accepted, the National Trust’s senior field officer, Brian Turner, said, it would work with local stakeholders on a fundraising campaign for the Natatorium, which it named a national treasure in 2014. A similar effort successfully saved Shockoe Bottom, a former shipping and slave-trading center in Richmond, Va., that was slated to be turned into a baseball stadium, he said. A capital campaign is underway to save the Miami Marine Stadium, Turner said.
“In the last five years, we have had 15 to 20 victories, with maybe two or three losses. Sometimes people don’t realize the value of something until it’s gone,” he said.
Robert Kroning, director of the city’s Department of Design and Construction, said the city must vet solutions through an environmental impact statement, which is not expected to conclude until 2018 or 2019, following a public comment period. In June, the city added two additional options to the Abercrombie/Caldwell demolition plan, including full rehabilitation of the Natatorium and pool and another plan that removed the Natatorium, but kept the bleachers.
“Based on feedback from the public, the city is now reassessing additional alternatives for consideration in the EIS,” Kroning said.
Kroning said new alternatives could include no action or various preservation alternatives like the National Trust’s proposal.
“The proposal by the Trust is one idea of many for an open saltwater pool. It appears to fall into the same category as the original construction project the city had undertaken to restore the pool. That project was unable to meet the Department of Health saltwater pool rules, which prevented the city from moving forward,” he said.
SOME Native Hawaiians also have proposed allowing the Natatorium to revert back to the rocky shoreline that was present before it was built, he said. Once a choice is made, Kroning said, permits could take two to three years. Construction could start one to two years after that, and would take another one to two years to complete, he said.
In the interim, the Natatorium is likely to keep deteriorating.
“Currently, the city’s engineers are monitoring the structure to ensure that it does not pose a hazard to the public,” Kroning said. “No projects are planned, except in the event of an emergency where action to remove loose concrete is needed.”
To date, the city has spent almost $1.2 million on Natatorium planning; however, no funds are currently being spent on annual maintenance.
Some advocates are eager to get preservation efforts moving to take advantage of an approaching anniversary. April marks the centennial of the U.S. entry into World War I.
“I think it would be unprecedented for any municipality anywhere in the world to demolish a war memorial, especially during a commemorative time. I can’t imagine the worldwide outrage that would bring to bear on Hawaii,” said Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.
Faulkner said more than 10,000 people from Hawaii participated in the Great War.
“The Natatorium was one of the nation’s first ‘living war memorials’ built where people could come and live their lives in memory of those that died,” she said.
Keeping the pool intact preserves another important aspect of the Natatorium’s history, Faulkner said.
“It opened in 1927 on Aug. 24. It was Olympic swim champion Duke Kahanamoku’s birthday and he took the first lap.”
View the plan at savingplaces.org/support-the-waikiki-natatoriums-future.
