Hawaii was ruled by Kings until a revolution in 1893, overthrew the monarchy and installed a territorial and later a state government in the islands. The last king of Hawaii, David Kalakaua ordered the Iolani Palace to be built in 1882 to symbolize traditional Hawaiian culture.  The royal palace was the residence of King Kalakaua and Queen Lili’uokalani, Hawaii’s last two reigning monarchs, for only 11 years. It was here, in fact, that Queen Lili’uokalani spent the last days of her life imprisoned in an upstairs bedroom of the palace, After the revolution, it was used as a government building and allowed to fall into disrepair over the decades that followed.

The lavish palace, built at a cost of $360,000, features 7,000 feet of Hawaiian native Koa wood including a grand staircase leading to the upper floor apartments.