Washington Place, Honolulu

Washington Place was originally built in the 1840s by the father-in-law of Hawaii’s last reigning monarch, Queen Liliʻuokalani, and was the site of her arrest during the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

Washington Place was commissioned by John Dominis, a wealthy merchant, for his family. Tragically, he was lost at sea in 1846 on a trip to China before the house was completed. His wife, Mary, converted Washington Place into a boarding house in order to support herself and her son. One of the first boarders was Anthony Ten Eyck, an American commissioner to the islands appointed by President James K. Polk, who established the American Legation in the house. Ten Eyck named the house “Washington Place” after George Washington, and King Kamehameha III officially approved the name.

John Dominis’s son, John Owen Dominis, later married Queen Liliʻuokalani, when she was still a young princess. The house became their home and was eventually left solely to Queen Liliʻuokalani after her husband’s death. She died in the house in 1917, after being deposed.

After Queen Liliʻuokalani’s death, Washington Place served as the governor’s mansion from 1921 to 2001. A total of thirteen governors of Hawaii lived there until a new governor’s residence was built nearby in 2001. After this, Washington Place was converted into a Hawaiian history museum, and in 2007 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.