The R. N. Linn House, also known as the Robert A. and Eleanor C. Nordyke Residence, at 2013 Kakela Drive in

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, was built in 1928 in the style of

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

then emerging in

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 ...

during the 1920s. Although it is relatively modest

cottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a Cotter (farmer), cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager ...

, it exhibits such typical elements of that style as a double-pitched

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

(also known as a Dickey roof), exposed

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as wooden beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck and its associated ...

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a cas ...

s, an open

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

, Chinese interior motifs, and a panoramic view. Its

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

was J. Alvin Shadinger, who was noted especially for his interior designs. The house was listed in 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 1986. Many of the leading architects in Honolulu during the 1920s consciously employed both European and Asian motifs in their designs, as they pursued a distinctive Hawaiian style of architecture that celebrated the multi

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

roots of Island society. Among the most influential was

Hart Wood Hart Wood (1880–1957) was an American architect who flourished during the "Golden Age" of Hawaiian architecture. He was one of the principal proponents of a distinctive "Hawaiian style" of architecture appropriate to the local environment and r ...

, whose artful blending of motifs can still be seen in the First Chinese Church of Christ, the Alexander & Baldwin Building, and the Gump Building (all built in 1929), as well as in several grand private residences. The R. N. Linn house is one of the few fine middle-class homes from that period to show similar Chinese influences. Reuben N. Linn was a

court reporter A court reporter, court stenographer, or shorthand reporter is a person whose occupation is to capture the live testimony in proceedings using a stenographic machine, thereby transforming the proceedings into an official certified transcript b ...

and his wife Merle taught at Waialua Elementary School. They had acquired a lot of Chinese household

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

during a trip to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1922, and this likely influenced their choice of interior design. They lived in the house until 1950, when Mrs. Linn died. The Nordykes, who were friends of the Linns, bought the house in 1960. In 1961, Mrs. Nordyke gave birth to twin daughters in the same maternity ward at

Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children is part of Hawaii Pacific Health's network of hospitals. It is located in Honolulu, Hawaii, within the residential inner-city district of Makiki. Kapiolani Medical Center is Hawaii's only children ...

where

Ann Dunham Stanley Ann Dunham (November 29, 1942 – November 7, 1995) was an American anthropologist who specialized in the economic anthropology and rural development of Indonesia. She is the mother of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the Uni ...

was giving birth to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

. The twins were classmates of the future

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Noelani Elementary School Noelani is a Hawaiian female given name, meaning "heavenly mist". People with the given name Noelani include: *Noelani Arista, Hawaiian and American historian * Noelani Goodyear-Ka'opua, Kanaka Maoli scholar and educator *Noelani Pantastico Noel ...

and then at

Punahou School Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...

Gallery

Image:Honolulu-KakelaDr-2013-wide.JPG, Side view from Kakela Dr. Image:Honolulu-KakelaDr-2013-from-below.JPG, View from street below

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linn, R. N., House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Hawaii History of Oahu Houses completed in 1928 Houses in Honolulu County, Hawaii National Register of Historic Places in Honolulu County, Hawaii Hawaiian architecture