The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is a hotel property on the

Kohala Coast The districts of the Big Island. From Northernmost, clockwise; North Kohala (highlighted), Hilo,_ Hilo,_South_Hilo,_Hawaii">Hilo,_Puna,_Hawaii">Puna,_ Hilo,_South_Hilo,_Hawaii">Hilo,_Puna,_Hawaii">Puna,_Kau,_Hawaii">Kaū,_South_ Hilo,_South_Hilo ...

of the island of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. It sits at

Kaunaoa Bay Kaunaoa Bay has one of the few white sand beaches of the Kohala Coast, the western side of the island of Hawaii. A historic hotel, the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, is located on beautiful Kauna'oa. Description The word ''kaunaoa'' may refer to a few ...

. The

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

(AIA) awarded the hotel an Honor Award in 1967 citing its "restrained detailing and fine spatial sequences." In 2007, the hotel received honors again from the AIA as it made the top 150 of its "

America's Favorite Architecture "America's Favorite Architecture" is a list of buildings and other structures identified as the most popular works of architecture in the United States. In 2006 and 2007, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsored research to identify the ...

" list.

History

The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel was developed and constructed by Laurance S. Rockefeller. He visited the newly-admitted 50th state in July 1960, and was asked by Governor

William F. Quinn William Francis Quinn (July 13, 1919 – August 28, 2006) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 12th and last governor of the Territory of Hawaii from 1957 to 1959 and the first governor of the State of Hawaii from 1959 to 1 ...

to help develop the islands beyond Oahu for tourism. Rockefeller fell in love with

, the hotel's future location, after going for a swim there. He secured a 99-year lease on the 500-acre location from

Parker Ranch Parker Ranch is a working cattle ranch on the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii, now run by a charitable trust. History The ranch was founded in 1847 and is one of the oldest ranches in the United States, pre-dating many mainland ra ...

owner Richard Smart in August 1961. The hotel was named after

Mauna Kea Mauna Kea ( or ; ; abbreviation for ''Mauna a Wākea''); is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is ...

, which is visible above the bay when not obscured by clouds. Original plans, started in 1961, were to use architect

John Carl Warnecke John Carl Warnecke (February 24, 1919 – April 17, 2010)Brown, "John Carl Warnecke Dies at 91, Designed Kennedy Gravesite," ''Washington Post,'' April 23, 2010.Grimes, "John Carl Warnecke, Architect to Kennedy, Dies at 91," ''New York Times,'' Ap ...

and build a series of small cottages, but those plans were abandoned. Instead the firm of

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel A. Owings, Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer Jo ...

was hired, and architect

Edward Charles Bassett Edward Charles "Chuck" Bassett (1921–1999) was an American architect based in San Francisco. History Edward Charles Bassett was born on September 12, 1921 in Port Huron, Michigan. Between high school and college Bassett worked for his fathe ...

designed a striking hotel structure in the modern style. The open-air design allowed natural ventilation from the

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisph ...

, although rooms had air conditioning available. Hotels with similar designs would be built along the Kohala coast over the next decades. The interior design was conceived by

Davis Allen Davis Allen (1916-1999) was an American interior designer and furniture designer. He was noted as a pioneer in the design of interior corporate environments and had a forty-year tenure at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. In1983 he designed the "Ando ...

of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, with the assistance of Margo Grant Walsh. It included traditional textiles, carvings, metal and ceramic objects from Hawai'i, the Pacific Islands, and Southeast Asia. Richard Joseph,

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...

's travel writer, likened the hotel to "strolling through an open-air museum and art gallery—past Hawaiian quilts hung as tapestries, bronze ceremonial drums and red-and-gold scroll boxes from Thailand, Japanese and Chinese scrolls and paintings, New Guinea carvings and masks ..." Construction on the resort's golf course, designed by

Robert Trent Jones Robert Trent Jones Sr. (June 20, 1906 – June 14, 2000) was a British–American golf course architect who designed or re-designed more than 500 golf courses in 45 U.S. states and 35 countries. In reference to this, Jones took pride in sayi ...

, began first, on August 8, 1963. Construction on the hotel began on January 4, 1964. The golf course opened on February 1, 1965, while the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel itself opened on July 2, 1965, operated by Rockefeller's hotel company

RockResorts RockResorts is a hotel brand with roots in the 1950s. Laurance Rockefeller, founder, began building a series of resorts in 1956 with the establishment of Caneel Bay on St. John in the United States Virgin Islands. Early properties included the ...

. In August 1967, ground was broken for a 102-room addition to the hotel, designed by Honolulu architects Wimberly, Whisenand, Allison, Tong and Goo, with interior design by Phyllis Brownlee, which opened in August 1968. The hotel famously operated without guestroom televisions until 1995. In 1978, Rockefeller sold the hotel to

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

. United placed the hotel in their Western International Hotels division, which was renamed

Westin Hotels Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned by Marriott International. , the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline. History Wester ...

in 1981. The hotel itself was renamed The Westin Mauna Kea for much of the early 1980s. The hotel was purchased in 1990 by

Yoshiaki Tsutsumi is a Japanese businessman. During the Japanese economic bubble, ''Forbes'' listed Tsutsumi as the wealthiest person in the world during 1987–94 due to his extensive real estate investments through the Seibu Corporation, which he controlled. ...

Seibu Railway is a conglomerate based in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan, with principal business areas in railways, tourism, and real estate. Seibu Railway's operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name "Seibu" is an abbreviati ...

and has since been managed by one of his companies,

Prince Hotels The is the name of a hotel chain company headquartered in Toshima-ku, Tokyo, Japan. It is a subsidiary of Seibu Holdings, Inc. Together with Seibu Railway, Prince Hotels is the core company of Seibu Group. Overview During the Allied occupatio ...

. The hotel closed in 1994 for a two-year renovation. In August of that year, a sister hotel was opened on the property, the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, also designed by Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo. The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel reopened in January 1996. From 1996-2001 the Prince Hotels in Hawaii and Alaska were all franchised to Westin Hotels, and the hotel rejoined the chain for five years as The Westin Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. The Mauna Kea Beach Hotel closed due to structural damage caused by the

2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake The 2006 Kīholo Bay earthquake occurred on October 15 at with a magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The shock was centered southwest of Puakō and north of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, just offshore of the Kona ...

. After a $150 million renovation, the hotel reopened in March 2009, with a soft reopening on December 20, 2008. The hotel joined

Marriott Marriott may refer to: People *Marriott (surname) Corporations * Marriott Corporation, founded as Hot Shoppes, Inc. in 1927; split into Marriott International and Host Marriott Corporation in 1993 * Marriott International, international hote ...

Autograph Collection Hotels Autograph Collection is a group of independent upper-upscale to luxury hotels within the Marriott International portfolio. The properties are independently owned and operated under the Autograph Collection name. History To grow in the post-200 ...

division in 2015. It was also inducted int
Historic Hotels of America
the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, in 2016. The golf course is featured as part of the course lineup in the Links golf game for PC.

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Autograph Collection chain website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Hawaii County, Hawaii Skidmore, Owings & Merrill buildings 1965 establishments in Hawaii Hotel buildings completed in 1965 Hotels established in 1965 Prince Hotels Autograph Collection Hotels Hotels in Hawaii (island) Historic Hotels of America