Walker Estate

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The Walker Estate is located in the upper Nu’uanu Valley of Honolulu, Hawaii. The house was built in 1903 by George Rodiek of Hackfield and Co., a naturalised German immigrant. Originally the estate comprised a two-story home with a series of gardens featuring ferns, rocks and orchards, generally regarded as the oldest formal Japanese garden in Honolulu.^{[citation needed]}

Rodiek served as German consul as well as president of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association. In 1917, he was accused of involvement in the Hindu German Conspiracy to foment revolution in India.^{[citation needed]} Though subsequently given a presidential pardon,^{[citation needed]} he sold the house and moved with his family to San Francisco, never to return. The house was later owned by Henry Alexander Walker, president of American Factors, the successor firm to Hackfeld and Co., and another president of the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association.

In 1973, the house was accepted for the National Register of Historic Places and listed as a "valuable historic property" by Hawaii Historic Places. Una Walker, Henry's widow, maintained the premises by making the grounds available for weddings and visitors. The gardens were closed to the public in 1983. In 1989, two years after Una's death, the house and its 5.86-acre grounds were sold to Masao Nangaku of Minami Group (USA) Inc. for $8.5 million. His intention was to restore the original house to be used as a corporate retreat.^{[citation needed]} He renovated the house and received a Preservation Honor Award from the Historic Hawaii Foundation, as well as a Grand Award in the Building Industry of America's Renaissance competition. After Nangaku experienced financial problems,^{[citation needed]} Richard Fried and partners took the property over and, in 1998, asked for planning permission to build a chapel to facilitate weddings on the site. When this was refused, the estate was sold to Holy-eye the same day.^{[citation needed]} In 2005, Holy-Eye listed the estate for sale, asking $12.9 million.

In September 2006, concern was raised that the building might be demolished by the developers TR Partners and replaced by twenty new homes.^{[citation needed]}