The Daughters of Hawai´i have leased the house from the state and operated it as a museum since 1911.

Queen Emma Summer Palace

In the cool Nu'uanu Highlands above Honolulu, the home was built in 1847 and bequeathed to Emma Rooke, the descendent of the Englishman John Young and Hawaiian high chiefs. Raised in both British and Hawaiian traditions by her adoptive parents, Emma married King Alexander Liholiho and the home became their royal retreat. In 1860 the royal couple, both Anglophiles, added the Edinburgh Room to display their Victorian treasures.

After their young son and then the King himself died in 1862-3, Emma stepped down from the throne and retreated to her home. In 1874, when the legislature chose Kalakaua over Emma to succeed King William Lunalilo, her followers gathered at the house, marched down to Honolulu with a fife and drum band, and rioted around the courthouse. Ironically it was the British who restored order and kept her supporters away from the house.

Over a span of 15 years, Mason Architects has: