Aliʻiōlani Hale means "House of Heavenly Kings." Australian architect Thomas Rowe designed it in an Italian Renaissance style as a palace for Kamehameha V, but the king commissioned it as a government building instead. He laid the cornerstone on February 19, 1872, and Kalākaua dedicated it in 1874.
The golden statue is a replacement. The first cast, made in Paris, sank in a shipwreck near the Falkland Islands, and a second was cast for Honolulu and unveiled during Kalākaua's coronation in 1883. The first statue was recovered and now stands in Kapaʻau on Hawaiʻi Island.
In 1893 the group that overthrew Queen Liliʻuokalani read its proclamation from this building. Today it houses the Hawaiʻi State Supreme Court. In 2005 radar found a time capsule buried by Kamehameha V under the cornerstone, and it was left in place.