DLNR HISTORIC SITES CALENDAR 1984
Charles William Dickey bestowed upon Hawai`i a remarkably rich architectural heritage. As the long list of his designs would attest, he is noteworthy by any criteria: variety, quantity, quality. His legacy includes many of the buildings which, today, are considered among Hawai`i's best architecture and also extends beyond his own work to the influence he exerted on other prominent architects who began their careers in his office.Born in Alameda, California on July 6, 1871, C.W. Dickey was brought at the age of two to the island of Maui, where his parents established a general mercantile store. His mother, the former Anne Elizabeth Alexander, came from a kama`aina family, her father being one of the early missionaries to arrive in Hawai`i, the Rev. William P. Alexander.
Dickey grew up in Haiku, Maui. Returning to the United States for his education, he attended Oakland High School and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a BA in architecture in 1894. He worked briefly with two American architectural firms and in 1895 he entered into partnership with Clinton Briggs Ripley of Honolulu. With the new century he reformed the firm of Dickey & Newcomb, also in Honolulu, but at the end of 1904 he moved to Oakland, California, where he opened an architectural office for the next 20 years.
From as early as 1899 Dickey expressed the concern that an architecture suitable for Hawai`i's environment be developed and it is this sensitivity for which his architecture is best remembered. He strove in his turn-of-the-century residential work to design houses in which "the culture of the people has asserted itself." He stressed the need for broad lanais, interior courtyards and fountains, and felt that the "California Mission" style of architecture "is certainly most appropriate for Hawai`i."
In these early years of Dickey's career, the implementation of such ideas came slowly. These first years of practice were tumultuous ones for Hawai`i, with the overthrow of Queen Liliu`okalani and the eventual annexation of the islands by the United States. The architectural vogues of this time very much kept pace with American styles, as can be seen in Dickey's work with Ripley and later with Edgar Newcomb: the Stangenwald Building, the Hilo Foreign Church, Irwin Block (now called the Nippu Jiji), Bishop and Pauahi Halls at Punahou School, the Alfred Hocking residence and the Wailuku School. The Henry E. Cooper and William G. Irwin residences embodied the California Mission style, and the F.J. Lowrey and F.M. Swanzy houses had extremely open interiors; however, the overwhelming majority of the young architect's work followed the dictates of 19th century American architectural idioms.
By 1920, when Dickey again opened an office in Honolulu, this time under the supervision of partner Hart Wood, a new Hawai`i greeted him. This Hawai`i was more receptive to his ideas on a distinctive local architecture and in 1925 he returned to the islands, to reside here until his death on April 25, 1942.
Hawai`i had matured, as had Dickey. His vision of a Hawaiian style of architecture was more solidly conceived. He moved beyond the California Mission style, modifying it to meet Hawai`i's needs. In 1926, he stated, "Hawaiian architecture is a type distinctive to itself and Mediterranean styles must be adapted to fit local conditions before they are at all suited to the islands."
He felt Hawaiian houses needed large openings and comparatively small wall spaces to allow tradewinds to "enter and freely circulate." Dickey also advocated porches and wide, projecting eaves to shut out frequent showers "without the necessity of closing open windows."
The "wide, projecting eave" added at a separate, more shallow angle ("pitch") from the main body of a high roof became a Dickey trademark. Dickey never claimed to have originated this form, called a double-pitched hip roof, but over the years employed it so frequently and so skillfully that it has become known as the "Dickey" or "Hawaiian" roof. Although different from the steep roof of the old Hawaiian grass house, the two are similar in visual impact - both use plain broad surfaces to emphasize volume.
Dickey's new work reflected these thoughts: the cottages at Waikiki's Halekulani, his own residence at the foot of Diamond Head and the Girls' Industrial School in Kailua. Over the years this vision would continue as the Alexander and Baldwin Building, Immigration Station, Mutual Telephone Company in Hilo, the Halekulani Hotel and numerous residences readily attest.
At times, Dickey's work would move in new directions in an attempt to keep pace with current architectural movements, as with the Waikiki Theater or the Bishop First National Bank in Hilo. At others, it would re-echo the early attraction of the California Mission style, as in the Harkness Nurses Dormitory at Queen's Hospital or the Bishop Bank in Kahalui, Maui. Yet throughout this fruitful and influential period of his career, the vision of an architecture suitable to Hawai`i's unique environment motivated his work.
For further information and Biography on William Charles Dickey, see J. Meredith Neil, "The Architecture of C.W. Dickey in Hawai`i." The Hawaiian Journal of History, Vol. 9, 1975, pp. 101-113.
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