Hawaiian Hall
Hawaiian Hall was the first official Bishop Museum building. Built from 1898 to 1903, this Victorian masterpiece is still the museum's premier gallery. The built-in display cases of prized native koa wood (Acacia koa) were custom built and installed with special locks and air seals at a cost approaching that of the building itself.
Praised by contemporary newspapers as "one of the noblest buildings of Honolulu", the exhibition complex (and subsequent buildings) were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Hawaiian Hall has several notable objects, including: * A complete Sperm Whale skeleton with paper mache body suspended above the central hall.