827 Fort Street
Opened: 1930
Architect: Hardie Phillips
Style: Territorial/Hawaiian Regional (Spanish and Mediterranean Revival)
C. Brewer & Co. was originally established by Captain James Hunnewell in 1826 as an international trade and shipping company under an unknown name. When Captain Charles Brewer became a partner in 1836, the company was in the whaling industry. After foreseeing the decline of whaling, the company turned to sugar trade and production in the 1850s. By 1925, the company represented 25% of Hawaii's sugar industry.
The C. Brewer & Co. Building, located at the end of Fort Street Mall on Queen Street, was designed by Hardie Phillips for Captain Charles Brewer in 1930. The structure stands at two stories tall with the same Territorial style and Spanish Revival influences as Honolulu Hale, the Academy of Arts, the Walter Murray Gibson Building, and more. The style is commonly known for its massive scale and concrete walls covered in a textured stucco.
The C. Brewer & Co. Building stands out from other buildings of this style with its open lanais, courtyard, and high privacy walls surrounding the property. The building is topped with a "Dickey" roof, a double-gable roof initiated by Charles Dickey, who wanted local architecture to have its own recognizable style.
C. Brewer & Co. expanded their agriculture production to macadamia nuts, coffee, and tropical juices. The company sold the property, relocated to Hilo in 1998, and eventually dissolved in 2006.
The University of Phoenix used C. Brewer & Co. Building for its administrative offices until the Hawaii Community Foundation became the new tenants in 2010.