File:Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki, Honolulu, HI - 52267244892.jpg

English: Built between 1925 and 1927, this oceanfront natatorium was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Lewis P. Hobart, a San Francisco-based architect, and was built on the former estate of William G. Irwin, acquired by the Territory of Hawaii in 1919. The Natatorium was dedicated as a memorial to those who served and died in World War I, and served as a public swimming pool until 1979, when the structure had deteriorated to a point where it was deemed too hazardous to remain open. The natatorium consists of an ocean-fed swimming pool surrounded by a concrete deck, measuring 100 meters long and 40 meters wide, which was replenished several times a day naturally by the force of the tides. On the land side of the natatorium is a concrete set of bleachers with 13 tiers that flank a large triumphal arch over the main entrance to the natatorium, with locker rooms, bathrooms, and offices tucked underneath, and originally featured a volleyball court and tennis court on two front terraces flanking the arch, with the tennis court today being utilized as a parking lot, and the volleyball court sitting disused and dilapidated. At the top of the bleacher structure are a series of eight urns, grouped at the ends and on either side of the triumphal arch. On the land side facade of the structure are lanais behind a series of arches, arched windows, roman lattice windows, decorative light fixtures, four flagpoles, and doric pilasters under the urns. In the center of the facade is the triumphal arch over the main entrance, which features elaborate sculptures on top, a decorative coffered ceiling under the archway, decorative medallions flanking the archway above two smaller archways, ionic pilasters, volutes, and a decorative wrought iron gate. The natatorium was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. After languishing for decades after closing in 1979, and being featured on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s 11 Most Endangered Places list in 1995, the bleacher structure and triumphal arch were restored and reopened to the public in 2001, but the pool has continued to deteriorate, with sections of the deck collapsing and vegetation growing in open cracks, leading to further damage to the structure. Plans were in place in 2019 to rehabilitate the pool and reopen it to the public, but these have been put on indefinite hold by more recent events. Hopefully, someday soon, the natatorium will be safe for people to enjoy once again.