Background
Walter Laevitt Emory was born in 1868 in New England, North Dakota, United States.
Walter Laevitt Emory was born in 1868 in New England, North Dakota, United States.
He first visited Honolulu in 1898 to invest in the new coffee industry in the Islands. Again in 1900 he went to the Islands after Honolulu's great fire and the resultant plague, remaining to assist private interests in reconstruction work. In 1902 he was appointed Assistant Superintendent of Construction on the Alexander Young Hotel in Honolulu, and following completion of the work took up architectural study in preparation for professional practice. In 1909 the firm of Emory & Webb opened an office in a city and in the following years planned a number of public and business buildings, of which the most important were: Blaisdell Hotel; Union Trust Building; the Hawaii Theatre; Castle Hall Dormitory; Cooke Art Building at Punhau College, and buildings at St. Louis College.
In 1914 he became the first president of the Hawaii Chapter, A.I.A. which he helped organize.