Editorials
Saturday, October 3, 1998

 

Vladimir Ossipoff

THE architectural profession in Hawaii has lost one of its most distinguished members with the death of Vladimir Ossipoff at 90. For 60 years he designed buildings in Hawaii -- more than 1,000 homes and public buildings, leaving an imprint that will endure for decades to come.

Among his public buildings are the Pacific Club, the Outrigger Canoe Club, the Thurston Memorial Chapel at Punahou, the IBM Building, Hawaii Prep Academy and the University of Hawaii's administration building. In the 1940s and '50s he designed many homes in the then-new suburbs of Waialae-Kahala and Aina Haina.

 Ossipoff was born in Vladivostok, Russia, and grew up in Tokyo, where his father was the military attache at the Russian embassy. The family emigrated to the United States in 1923. Ossipoff graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1931 with a degree in architecture. He came to Hawaii to visit a classmate and took a job with Theo H. Davies, moving on in 1935 to the firm of Charles Dickey and then opening his own firm.

 Ossipoff was awarded the first medal of honor of the Hawaii chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He received the AIA grand award in 1959 for the design of his own house and for the McInerny store in Waikiki.

 He was known for designing low-slung homes with strong roof lines and deep overhangs, using dark woods and native stone, in what has been described as a kamaaina style. He had a reputation as a stickler for detail and for disdain of fads. His contributions to the best of Hawaii's buildings are immense.
 
 

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