This historic Manoa home is the residence of the University of Hawaii president, currently David McClain. College Hill, as it’s now called, was built for prominent local businessman Frank Cooke Atherton in 1902. He spent nearly $9,000 building his country home, which was designed by local architect Walter E. Pinkham in a variation of the Queen Anne style.
Encompassing 2.6 acres, the property covers six lots. “College Hill is the only remaining large Manoa estate from the early 20th century that has not been subdivided,” Lowell Angell, a UH official, tells me. The main house currently has three bedrooms and three baths. There is also a hothouse (or greenhouse) and a guesthouse, which was formerly used as a carriage house and servants’ quarters.
The home was donated to the university in 1963 and has been home to each UH president since.
*I will be cruising the streets of Oahu looking for cool homes to feature on this page. “That House!” means any iconic, interesting and beautiful home, visible from the street. Feel free to send me your own picks. E-mail me at
elainet@pacificbasin.net.
