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Working with Section 106 ACHP
Case Digest Spring
2004 Hawaii: Partial Demolition
of the Moanalua Shopping Center, Oahu
Hawaii: Partial Demolition of the Moanalua Shopping Center, Oahu
Agency: U.S. Navy
| Constructed
in the 1950s in the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex at Oahu, Hawaii, the
Moanalua Shopping Center and a church on its premises are both eligible
for the National Register.
The Moanalua Community Church is an excellent example of a large A-frame structure with exposed, glue-laminated beams. The main façade is composed of 140 sections of stained glass and is considered the largest connected stained-glass window in Hawaii. The glass depicts many historical events related to Navy history, including the Nautilus submarine and the atomic age. The U.S. Navy proposes to demolish a part of the shopping center to construct a Navy community support facility and a commercial facility that will be owned by a private developer. The plan may result in the relocation or demolition of the church, and the church’s congregations and the Historic Hawaii Foundation are opposed to the plan. |
The U.S. Navy proposes to demolish a portion of the Moanalua Shopping Center in the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex at Oahu, Hawaii, to construct a new Navy community support facility and a commercial facility owned by a private developer.
Moanalua Community Church stained glass window, Oahu, Hawaii (staff photo)
The shopping center, constructed in the early 1950s, has been determined eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. The shopping center contains the National Register-eligible Moanalua Community Church, constructed in 1957 and listed in the Hawaii Register of Historic Places.
The church building is a good example of a large A-frame structure with exposed, glue-laminated beams. The main façade is entirely stained glass and depicts many historical events related to Navy history, including the Nautilus submarine and the atomic age.
In September 2003, the ACHP met with the Navy and toured the shopping center and church with representatives from the Hawaii State Historic Preservation Officer, the Historic Hawaii Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the church community, which is dismayed that the Navy’s project may result in the demolition of their church building.
Since September, the Navy has circulated several drafts of a Memorandum of Agreement for review by the project’s consulting parties. A current version stipulates that the Navy will develop a Request for Proposals that requires an offeror to preserve the church and its stained glass window either by continuing to use it for religious purposes or adapting it for any other purpose permitted by the Navy’s lease.
If the Navy determines that “preservation in place” is not feasible, the offeror is encouraged to relocate the church structure. Any plans for the church’s relocation will be reviewed by the agreement’s consulting parties.
To date, the Hawaii Conference Foundation, which represents the church
communities, and the Historic Hawaii Foundation have declined to sign
the agreement, and the National Trust has expressed its concerns about
the project. The Hawaii State Historic Preservation Officer has signed
the agreement, while the ACHP’s decision about the agreement will
be made shortly.
Staff contact: Lee
Keatinge
Updated
June 1, 2004
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