Former President and CEO of Architects Hawaii Ltd., a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, Member Emeritus, and inspiration for the Historic Hawaii Foundation’s Frank Haines Award which honors an individual’s outstanding lifetime achievements in preserving historic and cultural places of Hawai‘i.

Mr. Francis “Frank” Haines, a native of Connecticut, knew he wanted to be an architect from an early age. As a young boy, his best friend’s father, an architect, used to take them to his office in New York City where he was exposed to drawings, sketches, and blueprints of some very notable buildings. At that office, one of the first set of sketches he saw were early concept designs of a building that eventually became known as the Empire State Building.

Mr. Haines graduated with a Bachelors of Arts from Princeton in 1941, then joined the Navy as a gunnery officer following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was eventually assigned to a ship in the Pacific and visited Hawai‘i numerous times, a place that left a lasting impression on him. In 1948, after using the GI Bill to earn a Masters of Architecture degree from MIT, he moved to Hawai‘i and began his architecture career out of a garage behind the home of architect Cyril Lemmon, founder of the firm known today as Architects Hawaii Ltd.

With the addition of Mr. Haines, the two-year old firm located on Waikïkï’s famed Saratoga Road grew to five employees. The firm’s success and reputation also continued to grow, and in 1953 Frank Haines was named partner. The company changed its name to Lemmon Freeth & Haines, continued to expand, and eventually became Architects Hawaii Ltd. Upon Cyril Lemmon’s retirement in 1969, Mr. Haines became president of the firm for the next 17 years.

Mr. Haines taught at the University of Hawai‘i School of Architecture from 1965 to 1991, where he created the Ethics and Management course. He edited two local publications: Architecture in Hawai‘i: A Chronological Survey; and Pöhaku, the Art and Architecture of Stonework in Hawai‘i. He was active in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) serving as the local chapter President in 1960 and was involved with the organization on a national level. Serving on both the Design Committee and the Public Education Committee, Mr. Haines is also a Fellow of the AIA and Member Emeritus. Fifty-five years ago, Haines co-founded Exploring Downtown, the Honolulu walking tour in which he shares his extensive knowledge of Hawaiian architectural history, a tour he still leads today. As a result of Mr. Haines’ commitment to the preservation and celebration of Hawai‘i’s iconic places, the Historic Hawaii Foundation (HHF) established the Frank Haines Award in 2009. The award honors an individual’s outstanding lifetime achievements in preserving historic and cultural places of Hawai‘i. In 2015, Mr. Haines’ Exploring Downtown walking tours were awarded the Preservation Commendation from the HHF.

SIGNIFICANT PROJECTS:

Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalaniana‘ole Federal Building and United States Courthouse
Kaiser Permanente Hawai‘i Moanalua Medical Center
Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Clinic
Ali‘iōlani Hale Judiciary Building Restoration
Waiana‘e High School and Intermediate School
U.S. Post Office Honolulu