Your gaze rests on a graceful white colonial house that carries perhaps the most personal history of any building in Honolulu. Built in 1847 by American sea captain John Dominis, it became the home of Queen Lili'uokalani when she married Dominis's son, John Owen Dominis. It was here, in this house, that the Queen composed 'Aloha 'Oe' — the haunting, beautiful song that became Hawaii's most beloved farewell, and perhaps a lament for the kingdom she could feel slipping away.
After her overthrow in January 1893, Lili'uokalani returned to Washington Place as a private citizen and a prisoner of history. When a failed counter-revolution attempted to restore her throne in January 1895, she was arrested and held under house arrest inside Iolani Palace before being tried for treason. She spent the rest of her life quietly here at Washington Place, writing her memoirs, composing music, and continuing her legal battle against annexation until her death in 1917 at age seventy-nine.
Washington Place later became the official residence of Hawaii's governors. Today it operates as a museum — and a monument to a queen who faced the end of her world with extraordinary dignity.