A partial rescue is on the way for the iconic Boettcher estate, an authentic bit of vintage Hawaiiana at scenic Kalama Beach Park in Kailua.
The city is seeking bids to repair the house’s dilapidated roof, a vital first step to stabilizing the structure and allowing it to continue to be used for community activities. The work plan has been reviewed and approved by the State Historic Preservation Division, which consulted with the city on the project in May.
Sitting inside the decaying structure, which is their regular monthly gathering place, members of the Kailua Neighborhood Board’s community and government engagement committee recently shared what they had heard from city officials.
“We’re getting a new roof; it’s all moving forward,” said Evan Weber, chairman of the board’s parks and recreation committee. “They think they’ll try to do it by the end of the year.”
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About 18 months ago, a neighborhood group formed to protect the deteriorating city-owned park facility, a registered historic landmark that was the first residential structure built by famed architect Vladimir Ossipoff, who designed many famous properties throughout Hawaii. Now their efforts appear to be bearing fruit.
The building’s condition is dire. The roof was already at risk of collapse, but heavy rains that fell in July 2024 pushed the situation into the crisis zone.
Pam Ross, president of the newly reconstituted Friends of the Boettcher Estate, replacing a similar group that had advocated for the house in the past, said that the heavy rains worried her so much she asked historic preservation expert Glenn Mason to visit the house and inspect the roof. Mason, an architect, is very familiar with the property as his firm did preservation work on it in the past.
He drove over to take a look and found the situation alarming.
“The roof has failed; it’s in the process of failing,” he said. “There are some eaves where the shingles are gone or nearly gone.”
Members of the Kailua Neighborhood Board regularly meet in the historic yet crumbling Boettcher Estate house. Even though the house is in sad shape, it still functions as a community space and includes officers for parks staff. (Kirstin Downey/Civil Beat/2025)
Mason shared his concerns with Laura Thielen, director of the city’s parks and recreation department. He also provided Thielen with architectural drawings of the roof that his firm had retained from work they had done 30 years ago. Mason and Ross say they are hopeful the city will come up with the money.
Ross said that Mike Formby, the city’s managing director, has also been helpful and supportive.
Soon after the group formed and after a story about the estate’s sorry state of disrepair was published in Civil Beat in March 2024, Formby visited the site and acknowledged the extent of the problems, Ross said.
Then Ross and Formby went together to the Oʻahu Historic Preservation Commission to discuss it with the board.
Formby introduced some of the leaders of the Friends of the Boettcher Estate to the historic preservation commissioners and told them he was interested in looking for ways to secure federal funding to improve the property. That seems to have gotten things going.
The Boettcher house is worth preserving as a survivor from an earlier time. It’s a classic kamaʻāina beach house, designed for outdoor living, built without air conditioning and designed to take advantage of prevailing trade winds. It sits back from the street on North Kalāheo Drive, surrounded by green lawns, like many old Kailua homes in the past. Even its kitchen is modest, in keeping with the laid-back style that was a hallmark of life even among the richest Hawaii families then.
The house was formerly owned by the Boettcher family, German immigrants who made a fortune selling blasting powder to miners in the mid-1800s Colorado gold rush and later by investing in sugar beets and cement manufacturing.
In 1933, their wealth made them a target of criminals who kidnapped the family heir from his home in Denver and held him captive. Thousands of police officers and volunteers combed the city’s foothills, searching for him fruitlessly. The ordeal ended a month later when the family paid $60,000 in ransom and the young man was released.
Terrified by the ordeal, the family sought to flee to someplace they felt confident would be safer, and they ended up purchasing the property in Kailua and arranging to build a family compound on the site. They turned to Ossipoff, a promising young architect just making a name for himself.
They owned the house for decades, vacationing there frequently, but gradually returned their focus to their lives and philanthropic work in Colorado. Kailua land values had boomed, and by the 1970s the house was already valued at $3 million.
In 1978, Charles Boettcher II’s widow, Mae, who wanted the property preserved intact, sold it to the city for $1.5 million, in an arrangement that allowed the city to pay only $150,000 for it with the remainder covered by federal funding.
This was how the city acquired what is now known as Kalama Beach Park, which some consider the finest stretch of beach on the windward side of the island. To get the coastal land, however, the city also had to accept the house that was on it. It is now lightly used as a community gathering space, for yoga classes and serves as offices for city parks employees.
City officials did not comment directly on their plans, indicating they would discuss them soon. Mason, the architect who viewed the site, estimated that the roof work would cost at least $250,000.
The Boettcher Estate in Kailua includes 4 acres of beachfront property and a crumbling house that once was owned by a wealthy Denver family. The Ossipoff-designed residence is about to get a new roof after existing in disrepair since the city purchased the property for $1.5 million in 1978. (David Croxford/Civil Beat/2024)
Jessica Puff, SHPD administrator, said that state officials had provided technical assistance on the roof repair plan. In a statement, she said fixing the roof “will help support the preservation of the home for future generations to enjoy.”
Kiersten Faulkner, executive director of the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, said that repairing the roof is an essential first step toward restoring historic buildings.
“You need to keep these buildings watertight,” she said. “Once they are protected from the elements, other things can be fixed.”
Ross, the leader of the new nonprofit pushing for the property’s restoration, said her group is thrilled the city is taking action to help preserve the building.
“The city has shown its commitment to this project, which we have been lobbying for,” she said.
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