WALTER BOOSER (CHIP) DETWEILER (1932-1984)

 Born in Harrisburg PA, Detweiler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1955 with a Bachelor of Architecture.  From 1955 to 1957, Detweiler served in the US Army as 1st Lieutenant and Construction Supervisor in the Army Corps of Engineers in Guam.  Upon his return to the US, Detweiler joined D. K. Ritchley Associates in Pittsburgh, PA and pursued one year of graduate studies in architecture at Yale, studying under Paul Rudolph.  Detweiler then went to Manila in the Philippines as Chief Architect for Adrian Wilson and Associates, specializing in military bases.  By the late 1960s, Detweiler moved to Honolulu, where he would remain.  In 1968, he founded Meyers Detweiler & Associates with partner Irwin Don Meyers. The firm’s commissions included the Honolulu Airport Center building.  Website.  Many thanks for research by Julie Sandy.

 “The idea of architecture gives complete meaning to my life. The intellectual, spatial, functional and economic relationships are the inevitable reflection of truth, honesty and integrity, which are the ideals I strive for in my life.” -- Detweiler, 1981

 1973 - The Chip and Ginny Detweiler House, 2244 Round Top Drive, Honolulu HI. Built by Waialea Builders; structural engineer, Richard M. Libbey. Won a 1978 AIA/Sunset Magazine Merit Award; 1978 HS/AIA Merit Award.  In 2020, sold to Rick Kinsel and meticulously restored using Detweiler’s original drawings and consulting with Dian Cleve, Detweiler’s later professional and life partner, winning a 2022 Historic Hawai’i Foundation Project Award and the 2023 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award.  Added to the Hawaii State Register.