Walking back down King Street, past the statue of Kamehameha I, you come to the Territorial Office Building which is also known as the Kekūanaōʻa Building after Mataio Kekūanaōʻa, the father of Princess Ruth Keʻelikōlani, great-granddaughter of Kamehameha I.
Completed in 1926 and designed by Hawaii architect Arthur Reynolds, the Territorial Office Building was built specifically to house offices for workers in the territorial government.
Hawaii was a territory of the United States from 1900 until statehood in 1959. Under territorial status Hawaii had a governor who was appointed by the President of the United States. While Hawaii had a member of the United States House of Representatives, the individual had no voting rights.
During World War II Hawaii was governed under martial law and territorial government was handled by a military officer.
The architecture of the Territorial Office Building has been described as "bland" and "modern, somewhat uninteresting." It is all of these.
The most striking feature of the building, however, is located right inside the main entrance. If you look straight up in the two-story lobby you will see a stain-glass decorative dome depicting the Code of Arms of the Territory of Hawaii. The Code of Arms contains the words which remain the state motto of Hawaii, "Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻ āina I ka pono" - The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
