Boettcher Estate, also known as Kalama Beach Park, is a former beachfront estate in

Kailua, Honolulu County, Hawaii Kailua () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. It lies in the Koolaupoko District of the island of Oahu on the windward coast at Kailua Bay. It is in the judicial district and the ahupua'a named Ko'ol ...

, with a house designed by

Vladimir Ossipoff Vladimir ‘Val’ Nicholas Ossipoff (russian: Владимир Николаевич Осипов; November 25, 1907 – October 1, 1998) was an American architect best known for his works in the state of Hawai'i. Biography Early life and s ...

and landscape designed by Richard Tongg.

History

The original home was designed for the Boettcher family in 1937 by

soon after he opened his own firm in Honolulu. After the city assumed ownership, the house and its lot were restored and redesigned in several phases b
Mason Architects
of Honolulu to serve as Kalama Beach Park. The area called Kalama (which means "The Torch" in the

Hawaiian language Hawaiian (', ) is a Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaii, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language o ...

) was Kailua's first housing tract, developed in 1925 by Harold K.L. Castle, who named it after Queen Kalama, the wife of King

Kamehameha III Kamehameha III (born Kauikeaouli) (March 17, 1814 – December 15, 1854) was the third king of the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1825 to 1854. His full Hawaiian name is Keaweaweula Kīwalaō Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa and then lengthened to Keaweaweula K� ...

, who previously owned the land in the Kailua area. Mae Bleakie Boettcher, the widow of the original owner and trustee of the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

-based

Boettcher Foundation The Boettcher Foundation is a Denver-based philanthropic organization whose mission is to invest in the promise of Colorado and the potential of Coloradans. Founded by Claude K. Boettcher and his son, Charles, with additional support from other fa ...

, sold her estate to the City and County of Honolulu. She died in 2001. It became a municipal park in 1978 and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2002.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii Hawaiian architecture Houses in Honolulu County, Hawaii National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu County, Hawaii {{Hawaii-geo-stub