Clarence H. Cooke House
Encyclopedia
The Clarence H. Cooke House, later known as the Marks Estate, at 3860 Old Pali Road, Honolulu, Hawaii
, was built for Clarence Hyde Cooke
, the second son of Charles Montague Cooke
and Anna Rice Cooke
, heirs of the Castle & Cooke
fortune. It was designed by the architect
Hardie Phillip
, built in 1929-32, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1986 as a fine example of the upper-class, Hawaiian-style, great mansion of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Phillip first worked in Honolulu as a member of the firm of Bertram Goodhue
and Associates of New York
, who also designed the Honolulu Academy of Arts
on the site of the former home of Anna Rice Cooke, the C. Brewer Building
downtown, and Lihiwai
, the residence of Territorial
Governor
George R. Carter
in Nuuanu Valley. For Clarence Cooke, Phillip designed a sprawling 24-room mansion fit for the lavish entertainment it became known for. Features of the evolving Hawaiian Regional style of the era include numerous lanai
and open spaces, double-pitch
ed hipped roof
("Dickey" roof), and lushly landscaped grounds. The two-story, whitewash
ed building is constructed of brick
on the ground floor and board and batten on the upper floor. A porte cochere topped by an open lanai leads to a formal entry hall with staircase, which provides access to both floors of two wings running in opposite directions. There are also three guest cottage
s, a gatehouse
, and a four-car garage
with servants' quarters above, and a swimming pool
with dressing rooms at the rear of the property. The pool area was earlier designed in Neoclassical style by Hart Wood
.
Cooke left the estate to the Academy of Arts, which sold it in 1946 to Elizabeth Marks, the wealthy daughter of Lincoln L. McCandless. Her husband Lester Marks was a land commissioner for the Territory who resigned in 1949 when Governor Ingram M. Stainback decided to build a new Pali Highway up Nuuanu Valley, right through the middle of their estate. They sued to block the use of their land for the highway, but in 1956 the Territory finally bought the estate for $624,000. However, the Markses were allowed to live in their old home until 1976, when Mrs. Marks was evicted. By that time, she was a widow
, but still wealthy enough to buy a new house at Black Point in Kahala
.
State government departments then took it over, using it for office space, conferences, and special events. After trying to sell it for years, in 2002 the State finally auction
ed off the property, which had been appraised at $4.5 million. The winning bid of $2.5 million came from Unity House Incorporated, a labor union nonprofit organization
, which planned to use it for office space and a retiree activity center. Much of the house was renovated, but the estate was put up for sale in 2010, listed at $9.9 million, then reduced to $8.5 million without finding a buyer.
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, was built for Clarence Hyde Cooke
Clarence Hyde Cooke
-Life:Clarence Cooke was born April 17, 1876 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was the second son of Charles Montague Cooke and Anna Rice Cooke, and grandson of New England Congregational missionaries to Hawaii Amos Starr Cooke and William Harrison Rice, and thus partial heir to the fortune of Castle &...
, the second son of Charles Montague Cooke
Charles Montague Cooke
Charles Montague Cooke was a businessman during the Kingdom of Hawaii, Republic of Hawaii and Territory of Hawaii.-Life:Charles Montague Cooke was born May 6, 1849 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His father was Amos Starr Cooke co-founder of Castle & Cooke...
and Anna Rice Cooke
Anna Rice Cooke
Anna Rice Cooke was a patron of the arts and the founder of the Honolulu Academy of Arts.-Biography:Anna Charlotte Rice was born on September 5, 1853 into a prominent missionary family on Oahu, Hawaii. Her father was teacher William Harrison Rice , and her mother was Mary Sophia Hyde. Anna grew...
, heirs of the Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke
Castle & Cooke, Inc. is a Los Angeles-based company that was once part of the Big Five companies in territorial Hawaii. The company at one time did most of its business in agriculture...
fortune. It was designed by the architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
Hardie Phillip
Mayers Murray & Phillip
Mayers, Murray & Phillip was an architecture firm in New York city and the successor firm to Goodhue Associates, after Bertram Goodhue's unexpected death in 1924. The principals were Francis L.S...
, built in 1929-32, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1986 as a fine example of the upper-class, Hawaiian-style, great mansion of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Phillip first worked in Honolulu as a member of the firm of Bertram Goodhue
Bertram Goodhue
Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue was a American architect celebrated for his work in neo-gothic design. He also designed notable typefaces, including Cheltenham and Merrymount for the Merrymount Press.-Early career:...
and Associates of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, who also designed the Honolulu Academy of Arts
Honolulu Academy of Arts
The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...
on the site of the former home of Anna Rice Cooke, the C. Brewer Building
C. Brewer Building
The C. Brewer Building at 827 Fort Street in Honolulu, Hawaii was built in 1930 to be the headquarters of C. Brewer & Co., the smallest of Hawaii's Big Five corporations. The intimate, almost residential design was begun by Bertram Goodhue and completed by Hardie Phillip...
downtown, and Lihiwai
Lihiwai
Lihiwai was the residence of Territorial Governor George R. Carter in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was designed by the architects Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue and Hardie Phillip, built in 1927-29, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, and its boundaries increased in 1987...
, the residence of Territorial
Territory of Hawaii
The Territory of Hawaii or Hawaii Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 7, 1898, until August 21, 1959, when its territory, with the exception of Johnston Atoll, was admitted to the Union as the fiftieth U.S. state, the State of Hawaii.The U.S...
Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
George R. Carter
George R. Carter
George Robert Carter was the second Territorial Governor of Hawaii, serving from 1903 to 1907.He was born December 28, 1866 in Honolulu. His mother was Sybil Augusta Judd , daughter of Gerrit P...
in Nuuanu Valley. For Clarence Cooke, Phillip designed a sprawling 24-room mansion fit for the lavish entertainment it became known for. Features of the evolving Hawaiian Regional style of the era include numerous lanai
Lanai
Lānai or Lanai is the sixth-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is also known as the Pineapple Island because of its past as an island-wide pineapple plantation. The only town is Lānai City, a small settlement....
and open spaces, double-pitch
Roof pitch
In building construction, roof pitch is a numerical measure of the steepness of a roof, and a pitched roof is a roof that is steep.The roof's pitch is the measured vertical rise divided by the measured horizontal span, the same thing as what is called "slope" in geometry. Roof pitch is typically...
ed hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
("Dickey" roof), and lushly landscaped grounds. The two-story, whitewash
Whitewash
Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a very low-cost type of paint made from slaked lime and chalk . Various other additives are also used...
ed building is constructed of brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
on the ground floor and board and batten on the upper floor. A porte cochere topped by an open lanai leads to a formal entry hall with staircase, which provides access to both floors of two wings running in opposite directions. There are also three guest cottage
Cottage
__toc__In modern usage, a cottage is usually a modest, often cozy dwelling, typically in a rural or semi-rural location. However there are cottage-style dwellings in cities, and in places such as Canada the term exists with no connotations of size at all...
s, a gatehouse
Gatehouse
A gatehouse, in architectural terminology, is a building enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a castle, manor house, fort, town or similar buildings of importance.-History:...
, and a four-car garage
Garage (house)
A residential garage is part of a home, or an associated building, designed or used for storing a vehicle or vehicles. In some places the term is used synonymously with "carport", though that term normally describes a structure that is not completely enclosed.- British residential garages:Those...
with servants' quarters above, and a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
with dressing rooms at the rear of the property. The pool area was earlier designed in Neoclassical style by Hart Wood
Hart Wood
Hart Wood was an American architect who flourished during the "Golden Age" of Hawaiian architecture. He was one of the principal proponents of a distinctive "Hawaiian style" of architecture appropriate to the local environment and reflective of the cultural heritage of the islands...
.
Cooke left the estate to the Academy of Arts, which sold it in 1946 to Elizabeth Marks, the wealthy daughter of Lincoln L. McCandless. Her husband Lester Marks was a land commissioner for the Territory who resigned in 1949 when Governor Ingram M. Stainback decided to build a new Pali Highway up Nuuanu Valley, right through the middle of their estate. They sued to block the use of their land for the highway, but in 1956 the Territory finally bought the estate for $624,000. However, the Markses were allowed to live in their old home until 1976, when Mrs. Marks was evicted. By that time, she was a widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
, but still wealthy enough to buy a new house at Black Point in Kahala
Kahala
Kāhala, Honolulu, Hawaii is a neighborhood located alongside Kaimuki and Waialae, featuring many beachfront properties. This small neighborhood has some of the most expensive real estate in the city of Honolulu and the state of Hawaii....
.
State government departments then took it over, using it for office space, conferences, and special events. After trying to sell it for years, in 2002 the State finally auction
Auction
An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...
ed off the property, which had been appraised at $4.5 million. The winning bid of $2.5 million came from Unity House Incorporated, a labor union nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
, which planned to use it for office space and a retiree activity center. Much of the house was renovated, but the estate was put up for sale in 2010, listed at $9.9 million, then reduced to $8.5 million without finding a buyer.