The King Kamehameha Golf Course Clubhouse, formerly known as the Waikapu Valley Country Club, is a building in

Waikapu Waikapu ( haw, Waikapū) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. The population was 3,437 at the 2020 census. Geography Waikapu is located at (20.852844, -156.510014). According to the United States Census B ...

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

, Hawaii. The structure is based on the unbuilt Arthur Miller house (1957) originally conceived by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959). Wright designed the house for Arthur Miller's wife, Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962), but Miller and Monroe divorced soon after and the project was abandoned. The Arthur Miller house design was a modification of two previous unbuilt projects—the Raúl Baillères house (1952) and before it, the Robert F. Windfohr house (1949), also known as the "Crownfield" house.Pfeiffer, B. B. (1985). ''Frank Lloyd Wright, Treasures of Taliesin: Seventy-Seven Unbuilt Designs''. 1st Ed. Southern Illinois University Press. . This includes "Crownfield", Robert F. Windfohr House, Fort Worth, Texas, 1949, ''Plate 54''; and Raul Bailleres House, Acapulco, Mexico, 1952, ''Plate'' 56. Wright's work remained in the Taliesin archives for more than two decades until 1988 when Pundy Yokouchi and Howard Hamamoto visited Taliesin Architects in Scottsdale, Arizona, and expressed interest in building a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed golf clubhouse. Architect John Rattenbury combined all three unfinished Wright designs, enlarged them to meet the spatial requirements of a commercial clubhouse, and designed it to fit into the natural landscape of Waikapu's hilly terrain. Construction of the clubhouse was completed in 1993. Located at an elevation of 750 feet in the foothills of the West Maui Mountains, the clubhouse looks out across the

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

-filled valley of Central Maui's isthmus towards the Upcountry slopes of the Haleakalā volcano in the east, with panoramic coastal views of Ma'alaea Bay in the south and Ho‘okipa Bay in the north.Rattenbury, J. (2000). ''A Living Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Architects''. Pomegranate. . pp. 125-127.Tsutsumi, C. C. (July 3, 2006a
Dream House
''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'', D1.

History

In February 1949, Robert F. Windfohr and his wife Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy asked architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a

luxury home Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

for them on the prairie of Fort Worth, Texas. Calling it "Crownfield", Wright designed it in a short period of time, and the Windfohr's discussed modifications, but the project never went anywhere.The Crownfield design was altered in 1952 for Mexican government official

Raúl Baillères Raúl Baillères Chávez ( Silao, Guanajuato, Mexico, 1895 – 1967) created a business empire in Mexico. He founded the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) on 29 March 1946. His son, Alberto Baillères, was at the time of his deat ...

who planned to build the home in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , also , nah, Acapolco), is a city and major seaport in the state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Acapulco is located on a deep, semicircular bay and has bee ...

, Mexico. Nothing came of the project. Then, in 1957, Marilyn Monroe contacted Wright about building a home for her and her husband Arthur Miller in Roxbury, Connecticut. Wright expanded the original plans for Crownfield, complete with movie theater, pool, and nursery for the children Miller and Monroe planned to have. But the marriage did not last and Wright died shortly after, leaving the unfinished plans archived at Taliesin West.Campbell, B. (April 19, 2007)
Long, Hard Journey: From the Pen Of Frank Lloyd Wright to Hawaii
''The Wall Street Journal''. 249 (91), D8. In 1984, businessman Sandy Sims first contacted the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation in Scottsdale, Arizona, and proposed a Golf course development and subdivision using unbuilt designs from Wright's archives to construct Wright-designed residences on the course. Developers Pundy Yokouchi and Howard Hamamoto contacted Taliesin Architects and requested an original Frank Lloyd Wright design for a golf clubhouse in Waikapu, Maui, Hawaii. Architect John Rattenbury combined all three designs to produce a new structure that fit into the Waikapu landscape. Due to a period of drought on Maui, the second stage of the project involving a subdivision composed of 30 Wright-designed homes was put on hold and was never built. Lead developer Takeshi Sekiguchi and builder Hawaiian Dredging Construction Company constructed the clubhouse from concrete and steel, completing the project in 1993.Ginella, M., Loof, T. (November 2008)
When Frank Lloyd Wright Met Marilyn Monroe
''Golf Digest''. 59 (11), 124.

Features

The building is split into three levels with two-thirds of the structure underground, with a total area of 74,778 square feet. Copper

fascia A fascia (; plural fasciae or fascias; adjective fascial; from Latin: "band") is a band or sheet of connective tissue, primarily collagen, beneath the skin that attaches to, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. ...

surrounds the domed roofs of the building which fits into the landscape of the West Maui Mountains behind it and the golf course bunkers in front. The upper level has an area of 20,421 square feet.Clubhouse Guide. The King Kamehameha Golf Club. Wailuku, Hawaii. It includes the lobby, pro shop, meeting rooms, dining room, and kitchen. There are three banquet meeting rooms. The dining room features a 100-foot dome roof with a central 25 foot skylight. At 3,800 sq. feet, the pro shop is the largest in the state of Hawaii. The mid level of the building has an area of 26,741 square feet. The lower level has an area of 27,616 square feet and contains locker rooms for men and women,

Japanese baths Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, golf cart parking and maintenance facilities. The main stairwell sits beneath a stained glass sky panel based on Wright's original butterfly

art glass Art glass is a subset of glass art, this latter covering the whole range of art made from glass. Art glass normally refers only to pieces made since the mid-19th century, and typically to those purely made as sculpture or decorative art, with ...

design over the entrance of the

Dana–Thomas House The Dana–Thomas House (also known as the Susan Lawrence Dana House and Dana House) is a home in Prairie School style designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Built 1902–04 for patron Susan Lawrence Dana, it is located along East Lawrence ...

in Springfield, Illinois. Endemic nene (''Branta sandvicensis'') geese live on the grounds. Native plants in the area include ʻilima (''Sida fallax'') and 'akia (''Wikstroemia foetida''). Common tropical trees and plants on the grounds include plumeria, hibiscus,

Cook pine ''Araucaria columnaris'', the coral reef araucaria, Cook pine (or Cook's pine), New Caledonia pine, Cook araucaria, or columnar araucaria, is a species of conifer in the family Araucariaceae. Distribution The tree is endemic to New Caledonia i ...

(''Araucaria columnaris''),

monkeypod Monkey pod is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Samanea saman'', used in woodworking * ''Lecythis ollaria'' * ''Pithecellobium dulce ''Pithecellobium dulce'', commonly known as Manila tamarind, Madras thorn, monkeypod tree ...

(''Albizia saman''), and Bougainvillea.Tsutsumi, C. C. (November 16, 2006b
Hawaiian culture, history linked at Maui golf oasis
''The Boston Herald''.

Ownership

The clubhouse was originally owned by the Waikapu Valley Country Club, and later, the Grand Waikapu Golf Resort and Spa which changed ownership and closed in 1999. During this time, the clubhouse remained open and was used for special events. In 2004, Makoto Kaneko purchased the business for $12.5 million and invested $40 million in restoring the property. It re-opened in 2006 as the King Kamehameha Golf Course Clubhouse.

Art collection

The clubhouse contains an extensive collection of artwork honoring the culture of Hawaii, including a painting by

Herb Kawainui Kāne Herbert Kawainui Kāne (June 21, 1928 – March 8, 2011), considered one of the principal figures in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditio ...

, featherwork by Jo-Anne Kahanamoku-Sterling, kapa by

Puanani Van Dorpe Greta Mae "Puanani" Kanemura Van Dorpe (1933–2014) was an American artist and master of kapa, the Hawaiian art of making cloth from bark fibers. Van Dorpe spent more than forty years researching the forgotten craft of making kapa, investigating ...

, bronze sculptures by Dale Zarella, and a portrait by Tonia Marks Baney.

Popular culture

The golf course served the location as the Finish Line for the 14th season of the 2009 American reality television program ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

''.

References

External links

The King Kamehameha Golf ClubYoutube
{{Frank Lloyd Wright Sports venues completed in 1993 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Buildings and structures in Maui County, Hawaii 1993 establishments in Hawaii Clubhouses in Hawaii