Changing Kaka‘ako: Ward Plaza

As the Victoria Ward corporation continued to develop its 60 acres of property in Kaka‘ako — a process it had started in the 1950s — a prime site in a prominent location at Ward Avenue and Ala Moana Boulevard was selected. This was what would become Ward Plaza.

Ward and Ala Moana in 1946 — Back in 1946 the future site of Ward Plaza looked like this, at Ward Avenue (right) and Ala Moana Boulevard (foreground). A building supply warehouse belonging to Theo H. Davies & Co., a well-established local corporation, stands on the corner on the left. Ward Avenue, much narrower that it is today, is lined with various businesses. On the opposite corner on the far right is a gas station. Today this same intersection is under massive redevelopment as part of the Howard Hughes concentration of tall condo towers and looks unrecognizably different. (Ray Jerome Baker, Bishop Museum Archives)

Construction on Ward Plaza began in March 1969. It was designed by Au, Cutting, Smith & Associates in the Brutalist architectural style, which was extremely popular internationally at that time. Brutalism featured the use of unadorned concrete surfaces, usually dark grey, with exposed rough aggregate. It was considered to be the cutting edge of modern construction then. There are a number of similar Brutalist structures in Honolulu that you might recognize, like the Financial Plaza of the Pacific in downtown Honolulu along with a number of state and federal government buildings along Punchbowl Street. Even much of Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye Airport is Brutalist, having been built during this same period.

Ward Plaza from across Ward Avenue — Seen from across Ward Avenue in March 2017, the tallest three-story element of Ward Plaza stands on the right. The various levels of the complex are easy to see here. The choice to create a walkable, meandering layout instead of a plain rectangular box that filled as much of the lot as possible was an outstanding one aesthetically. (DeSoto Brown) (DeSoto Brown)

Ward Plaza courtyard — Although Ward Plaza was entirely concrete, it incorporated much live vegetation. The two clipped banyan trees at its front stairs facing Ward Avenue (seen here on the right) were a noticeable feature that were easy to spot from a distance. In this photo, the ‘Ewa end of Ward Warehouse is visible across the street. (DeSoto Brown)

Ward Plaza opened on December 16, 1969. It contained 45,000 square feet of rentable space in one 3-story building and two 2-story ones. Tenants had the use of 165 parking spaces in the below-grade basement level. At the time of opening, renters included a Bank of Hawai‘i branch, a Reyn’s menswear store (the only retail occupant) and 16 other businesses including real estate, insurance, and a business machines representative.

Ward Plaza detail — This photo makes the layout of Ward Plaza easy to understand. The lowest part, mostly underneath the buildings, was below street level and was used for parking. Above that was the first of two or three floors of commercial spaces. In the background are Ala Moana Boulevard and Kewalo Basin. (DeSoto Brown)

More Ward Plaza — Notice the very close neighboring building on the left, on a different piece of property — you’ll see it in another photo here looking very different a few years after this picture was taken. The bulk of Ward Plaza was two stories but a separate structure was one story taller. (DeSoto Brown)

Ward Plaza demolition — Ward Plaza’s end came in June and July of 2018. (DeSoto Brown)

Although Ward Plaza remained a popular professional building complex it was removed in 2018, probably to avoid continuing maintenance costs for something which was slated to be replaced eventually in the overall Howard Hughes plans. The site remained vacant for years afterwards although at the time of this article’s publication in 2026 it contains the lower floors of the under-construction Launiu condo.

You might question why one small commercial building deserves this much attention. There are many reasons — first, the documentation of what’s been destroyed in the growth of Honolulu is important. A great many lost buildings were never photographed at all, since nobody at the time thought they were worthy of attention, and we can never go back retroactively to right that omission. But additionally, Ward Plaza was notable historically because it was a significant step up for this particular neighborhood’s stature when it opened in 1969 as a unique architect-designed complex. And as Brutalist buildings in general age out of a useful life and are demolished, we need also to keep records to show they once existed. This is particularly true since the style is actively disliked by many critics today, leading to calls for it to be wiped out. We’ve seen this short-sighted attitude in the past lead to massive losses of buildings which today could never be replaced, and that mistake shouldn’t be made again.