Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 104, 4 May 1894 Edition 02 — A LANDMARK. HALEMAHOE. [ARTICLE]

A LANDMARK. HALEMAHOE.

A Historical Bailding Disappsars t — , ,, Wuile ever*'bo-l*' wh > b>Ii**Tes 'ir t a >d ad-n:res the i r of Hawaii. ought t»> feel prond wherev*r one of the sig.is of iiifancy of this rising c>untrv is r?moved, the feeling mingled. as far as the kmaaiu >* are c >n-cern*-<l with regret. and with a svni| t ietii-thonglit towar l>the ■ *'davs «>f oM.” “t i** men of old,” : and the “memori -s dear. Tbe reraov il of the o!d w >o«le:i bnildi ig oii Queen street at the f ot of Kaa 1 mnanu street, and lately occU;>ied by tbe well-known firm of Allen and 1* >binsjn, is i g > >d instance of the ever restless han 1 of progress. Few of onr prese::t i citizens remember tbo historv of that bailding. A few lines frem our fjeble p<*n may awuke momories in the hearts of some of the “ol.l ones” that raay induce them to uive—if not a tear—at least a r€>gr€tfal thouglit to tlie eiiumstmces and people c<mneeted with the now destro\ed old bnil»ling. It wus in tbe early fift>es i when tlie material ali fixed and ; all fi ted for tlie Qaeen street house was bronght here frorn Boston. Honolulu then diJ not resomble Honolulu of to-day and Iho building uow suld aud toru 1 down as “outof season” at that iime was a palaee or at least a rnost magnificent strncture. The building was put up and Honolulu fe!t prond. The firra of Swan and Clitford took possossion of the uew honse and ran successfully a ship-chandlery business. This was in the earh' fities—long before brot!ier S:nit!i and brother Castle (f iom Leipzig) had any idea of “cutting faces.” Mr. Clitfjrd, who, praise to the gotls is dead. went to China at one time and left the bailding, (aud the business) in the hands of Mr. Swan. The last-named geutloman “saw” Clitf»nl and raised him —th.it is, he raised h—. He disapj>eared and Cliffi»rd was looking f«>r him until a few years ago when I he died an «gftd, broken up man, existing ou tbe charity aud triendsliip of the uever-failing he1per J. I. Dowsett. The last this coramunity heard of Mr. Swan was that he was ruuning a bakery soraewhero in California, but tliings in th.it Stato are evidently run in a j>eculiar maiiner. If W. G. Smith could be the “Savior” why couldu’t Mr. Swan be a baker. The next party who occupied the lnstorical building was Mr. Luddington. He kept a liquor store and was for a while snccessful. He was too successful for his own good. His business was too near tbe water-front and he actually went iuto the smuggling business. If he had been alive now and doing the business he would have known euocgh to divide or at least j>ay “snoiiing Jim” a dividend. Hedidn’t, and consequeutlv Billy Emith s predecessor in oflice, refase*l him a license aud poor L‘:dJington had j to be “glade” enough to go home to “Yannany” and dio. He was one of the wittiest and best 1 knowe characters around town — aiul in those days there was $ome humor, wit, and ridicule knoeking around, even if they didu’t have an AJvisory Conncil aud W. o. s. was only infuiuro or 1 »» unbibus. Well, after they got ! rid of Lndding:on. the buildiog was occapied by a nuraber of j ditferent j>eople. A. J. Cart- j wrigut had his office there for; more than twenty years. The United States Consulate had an office upstairs for many years. H. W. Severanca ex-Hawaiian-Consul-Geueral, and ex-Ameri-can-Cousul Geuenl wielded at one time tbe aactioneer'g hammer on Uie lover floor. Sailbukon aod proruion donl«n %pd

ot»ier bas;n«»s men ahd firms ; h iTe occapied the old stractare. bot to tbe piesect Renerat»on it is best «nown as the bosinpss p!ace «nd ofiice of tbe great lamber firra of Allen and Robmson. lt was in tbe seventies when th;s firm toofc possession and bought the desirab!e property. For a nam ( ber of years the pilot office had foand room tbere. and the great lamber anl shipping firm was known !iere and abroad. The of t'<e old woodeo strnctare hi> corae. Au >t er old l »ndm -rk Ls< gole iuto obliTion Unler the elbcient m »nagement of Mr. P.*MahIen i >rf, tbe firm of Allen and R >b.ns >n erects a stractare l)ecom;ng the importaace of the finn. »nd the basia-*ss. aad tbe kn u'n'nm throw t!ie;r last and i regretful looks at the old baild-l mg origio.»llv owned by “Boo" ! Cb:»rlion, the canse of soj mueli trouble to Hawaii and: now dissappearing as a witness of tbe pr wperity tli.it id »wiii’s «iov>ted sons giine,l un ler the ■ mueh m«ligno I mueh black-i guarded and mneh misrepresen-, ted llawaiian Monarehy.