ESTATE HISTORY

The Johnston Summer Home, more commonly known now as Volcano Village Estates, is significant architecturally as an unusual example of the Queen Anne Style and for its association with the development of Volcano town as a summer retreat for the well-to-do. It is further significant for one of the few known residential projects of the master landscape architects Kanichi & Fujino Nakamoto who also landscaped Liliuokalani Gardens in Hilo.

Although the house was completed in 1923, more than 20 years after the Queen Anne style popularity had waned, the main of the Johnston home has many characteristics typical to the Queen Anne style. The asymmetric layout, complex roof form, diamond casement windows, fish scale shingles, turret and bay windows are illustrative of the Queen Anne style. The Queen Anne style developed at a time of America’s renewed interest in picturesque styles, free from the formal restraints of the Classical styles and when the availability of mass-production enables the reproduction of complex details that could be fastened at innumerable places. The style described simultaneously grand and quaint by historians, originated in England and proliferated in America, a country populated by many of the nouveau riche who displayed their inventiveness through this decorative style. Not typical of the style is the horizontal emphasis on the house. Most examples are two stories and feature much steeper pitched roofs. Typical of the Big Island is the use of corrugated metal for roofing material.

Although the Queen Anne style was popular in Hawaii at the turn of the century for the members of the society, the 1920’s and 30’s saw a more casual, less decorative style develop in Hawaii. Today, there are very few examples of this style remaining in Hawaii. Of those still remaining, this late example may be one of the only houses that are one story.

The cool weather and proximity to Hilo and several plantations made Volcano a popular vacation spot. The list of people who made Volcano their summer residence includes the the Shipman’s, Neal Blaisdell (former mayor of Honolulu), the Reverend Bond, the Reverend Lyman, and several plantations built vacation homes for the use of their employees. Another attractive aspect of this area is that the houses can be nestled into the easily grown landscape such as these homes are not easily seen from the street. The Johnston summer residence is one of the more elaborate homes in the area and one of the few that includes servant quarters and a carriage house.

Originally used as summer home, the Hawaiian name for the home is uluwenal or “hidden place”. The original builder was James Johnston, a Scottish immigrant who landed in Hilo in 1903 and was the manager of Ookala plantation north of Hilo. In 1941, he sold the home to Hawaiian Dredging, a branch of B.F. Dillingham, who used the home as a company retreat for executives and families, continuing the concept of Volcano Village as a vacation retreat.

-National Register of Historic Places

• • In Room Breakfast Included
  • Rooms all have a microwave, coffee maker, tea kettle, and a mini-refrigerator
  • Daily Housekeeping Services Available
  • Private Bathrooms
  • Family Friendly
  • Free WiFi