The Iolani Palace, located in Honolulu, Hawaii, was the residence of the last two monarchs of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Hawaiian King David Kalakaua inherited the Hawaiian throne in 1874 and began constructing the Iolani palace in 1879 to replace the previous decrepit royal residence. Architects Thomas J. Baker, Charles J. Wall, and Isaac Moore built the Iolani Palace in American Florentine-style, a combination of traditional Italian Renaissance architecture and traditional Hawaiian building designs. The designers included many amenities like indoor plumbing, electric lighting, and an early telephone, which made the Iolani Palace one of the premier palaces at the time. King Kalakaua and his successor Queen Lili’uokalani lived in the palace until a coup d’état toppled the Hawaiin Kingdom in 1893. Following the coup, the Iolani Palace became the Executive Building of the new provisional government. It remained the seat of Hawaii’s government through the Republic of Hawaii (1893-1894), the territorial period (1898-1959), and the first decade of Hawaii’s statehood. In 1969, Hawaii’s capital was moved due to the Iolani’s Palace’s poor conditions. In the 1970s, the Friends of Iolani Palace restored the palace, which reopened in 1978. Today, visitors can view the first and second floors.
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