George J. Wimberly
Encyclopedia
George J. "Pete" Wimberly (died 1996) was an architect
known for his work in Honolulu, Hawaii
and for his firm's designs of resorts. He was part of the architectural firm of Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo, a firm that is now more than 60 years old, until his death in 1996.
Wimberly came to Hawaii in 1940 as a "journeyman architect doing naval work at Pearl Harbor
." After the war he worked with Howard Cook in the architectural firm of Wimberly and Cook. The rehabilitation of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was one of his first jobs and many more followed. His work is typified by the use of local materials such as coral stone, lava rock, wood beams, thatch, bamboo, and glass; local "forms" such as flowing indoor/outdoor open spaces sheltered by big dramatic roofs with big eaves; and "liberal use of figurations, patterns and motifs derived from the cultures of the Pacific".
An article in Honolulu Weekly
said Wimberly "established himself as perhaps the most successful resort architect in the world" and that his "Honolulu—based firm of Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG) designed many of the Pacific Rim's pace-setting hotels and is now the world's largest "niche" architecture firm, specializing in the $4-trillion-dollar travel industry." He did numerous small scale projects on the Hawaiian islands until after 1960 when tourism and travel greatly expanded tourism and he started working on larger projects, a "construction boom that... led to the demolition of" many buildings Wimberly designed.
He was "instrumental" in founding the Pacific Area Travel Association in 1952 with Bill Mullahey, the regional chief of Pan American Airlines, after traveling the Pacific in the 1950s "looking for new destinations, new hotel opportunities" in Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, Jakarta, Singapore, and Bali.
Wimberly was an avid outdoorsman, according to his working partner of 27 years, Donald Goo. He relocated to Southern California late in life before returning to Honolulu when he became terminally ill with emphysema
.
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...
known for his work in Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and for his firm's designs of resorts. He was part of the architectural firm of Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo, a firm that is now more than 60 years old, until his death in 1996.
Wimberly came to Hawaii in 1940 as a "journeyman architect doing naval work at Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
." After the war he worked with Howard Cook in the architectural firm of Wimberly and Cook. The rehabilitation of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel was one of his first jobs and many more followed. His work is typified by the use of local materials such as coral stone, lava rock, wood beams, thatch, bamboo, and glass; local "forms" such as flowing indoor/outdoor open spaces sheltered by big dramatic roofs with big eaves; and "liberal use of figurations, patterns and motifs derived from the cultures of the Pacific".
An article in Honolulu Weekly
Honolulu Weekly
Honolulu Weekly is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Honolulu, Hawaii. Founded by Laurie V. Carlson, it began publishing in the summer of 1991, ostensibly to fill gaps in investigative reporting left by the two main dailies, Honolulu Star-Bulletin and The Honolulu Advertiser, which were...
said Wimberly "established himself as perhaps the most successful resort architect in the world" and that his "Honolulu—based firm of Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (WATG) designed many of the Pacific Rim's pace-setting hotels and is now the world's largest "niche" architecture firm, specializing in the $4-trillion-dollar travel industry." He did numerous small scale projects on the Hawaiian islands until after 1960 when tourism and travel greatly expanded tourism and he started working on larger projects, a "construction boom that... led to the demolition of" many buildings Wimberly designed.
He was "instrumental" in founding the Pacific Area Travel Association in 1952 with Bill Mullahey, the regional chief of Pan American Airlines, after traveling the Pacific in the 1950s "looking for new destinations, new hotel opportunities" in Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, Fiji, Jakarta, Singapore, and Bali.
Wimberly was an avid outdoorsman, according to his working partner of 27 years, Donald Goo. He relocated to Southern California late in life before returning to Honolulu when he became terminally ill with emphysema
Emphysema
Emphysema is a long-term, progressive disease of the lungs that primarily causes shortness of breath. In people with emphysema, the tissues necessary to support the physical shape and function of the lungs are destroyed. It is included in a group of diseases called chronic obstructive pulmonary...
.
Projects
- Jean CharlotJean CharlotLouis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...
House Honolulu, Hawaii - Waikikian Hotel (1956)
- Top's, Coco's and Popo's coffee shops built with "lots of lava rock and an almost cartoonish South-Seas flair."
- Hotel Bora Bora that includes thatched huts built on stilts the edge of a lagoon in TahitiTahitiTahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
. - Bishop Bank in Waikiki (1951)
- Kau Kau Jr. hamburger stand on Nimitz Highway (1956) that included a "little glass kitchen huddled beneath a fantastical, arrow-shaped, concrete-slab roof was certainly Honolulu's most fanciful small building."
- Royal Theater (1962) ("shortlived")
- Don the BeachcomberDon the BeachcomberDonn Beach , born Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, is the founding father of tiki restaurants, bars and nightclubs. The many so-called "Polynesian" restaurants and pubs that enjoyed great popularity are directly descended from what he created...
bar/restaurant with "big, authentic thatched roofs" on Kaläkaua Avenue - Kalakaua Avenue Shops
- original International Market Place
- Duke KahanamokuDuke KahanamokuDuke Paoa Kahinu Mokoe Hulikohola Kahanamoku was a Hawaiian swimmer, actor, lawman, early beach volleyball player and businessman credited with spreading the sport of surfing. He was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming.-Early years:The name "Duke" is not a title, but a given name...
's night club, "where Don Ho sang and drank through his salad days." - Bishop National Bank that includes a mural by Jean CharlotJean CharlotLouis Henri Jean Charlot was a French painter and illustrator, active in Mexico and the United States. Charlot was born in Paris. His father, Henri, owned an import-export business and was a Russian-born émigré, albeit one who supported the Bolshevik cause. His mother Anna was herself an artist...
(1959) - McInerny department store (1959) and an earlier building on the same site.
- Royal Hawaiian Shopping Arcade wooden crescent(1960)
- Rattan Art Gallery, a "cooly modernist" building (1947)
- Canlis' Restaurant (1954)
- Kapi'olani Bowl building on Kapi'olani Boulevard at Ward Avenue (1958), demolished in 1996
- Valley of the Temples Chapel in 'Ähuimanu on the Windward Side (1965)
- Foodland supermarket at Windward Shopping Center (1953) in Käne'ohe.
- Bank of Hawai'i building, 15-stories (1966)
- Sheraton Waikïkï
- SheratonSheraton Hotels and ResortsSheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's largest and second oldest brand . Starwood's headquarters are in White Plains, New York.-Sheraton history:...
Maui "clinging to the side of a prominent rock outcropping at Kä'anapali Beach" (1963) - Kona Hilton, a "primitivist, bony, whitewashed" building "built on a rocky point at Kailua Bay on the Big Island" (1968).
- Pago Pago Inter-Continental Hotel with its "authentically constructed thatch beach faleBeach faleBeach fale is a modern term for a simple thatched hut in Samoa. They are also common in other parts of Polynesia. They have become popular in tourism as low budget accommodation situated by the coast, built with a few posts, no walls and a thatched roof with a round or oval shape.The word fale is...
" in American SamoaAmerican SamoaAmerican Samoa is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the sovereign state of Samoa...
. - Tahara'a Hotel which is "no taller than three-quarters of a coconut palm" and spills "down a lush hillside above Matavai Bay" in Tahiti.
Firm's projects
- Emirates PalaceEmirates PalaceThe Emirates Palace is a luxury hotel located in the United Arab Emirates city of Abu Dhabi.-Construction:The building was designed by renowned architect, John Elliott RIBA, who was Senior Vice President at Wimberly, Allison, Tong and Goo, an international firm specialising in Luxury Hotels.It...
in Abu DhabiAbu DhabiAbu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
(2001) - Encore Las Vegas
- Disneyland Hotel (Paris)Disneyland Hotel (Paris)The Disneyland Hotel is a hotel at Disneyland Paris, by which it is marketed as its most prestigious and priced accordingly. With its clapboard and trim styled in a palette of creams and pinks, octagonal and Mansard roofs with dormera, a Mickey Mouse clock tower, wraparound porches and goldleaf...
- Hawaii Convention CenterHawaii Convention CenterThe Hawai‘i Convention Center is a convention and exhibition center in Hawaii, located in Honolulu on the island of Oahu. The building cost $200 million and has of floor space. It was completed in 1997 and opened in 1998...
- Royal Hawaiian CenterRoyal Hawaiian CenterRoyal Hawaiian Center, formerly Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center, is a four-level, open-air commercial retail complex located near the center of Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii. At present, Royal Hawaiian Center occupies more than and extends across three blocks of Kalakaua Avenue. In July 2005, on the eve of...
- Hilton Waterfront Beach ResortHilton Waterfront Beach ResortThe Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort is a 290-room hotel and resort located in Huntington Beach California.-External links:* * * * * * *...