09/29/2026
In 1946, House Beautiful editor-in-chief Elizabeth Gordon launched the Pace Setter House
Program, an annual series of exhibition houses that proposed a new modern architecture for postwar America.
Elizabeth Gordon visited Hawaii in December 1953, seeking potential Pace Setter homes. She met architect Vladimir Ossipoff and visited the newly built Liljestrand House. Apparently, she was so taken with the house that cried as she came down the hall. However, the house had few furnishings and was not yet complete.
House Beautiful sent a photographer from Maynard Parker Studio in 1954 without warning, but the interiors were not finished. Via telegraph, Bety Liljestrand informed the magazine that it would take several more months, yet it took another two years before the furnishings were complete.
The Liljestrands then fast tracked the completion of the house décor. To assist with the decorating, Howard and Betty selected (with Ossipoff’s approval) Hope Foote, head of the interior design department at University of Washington. Hope was an old friend of Betty’s and worked closely with Ossipoff to finish the house. According to Betty, “she showed a feeling for the rugged simplicity, with warmth that we and Val feel is what the house
calls for.” Howard and Betty were adamant that their house would have no “Hollywood Plush” or “Ming Oriental” elements.
In July 1958, Liljestrand House was featured as House Beautiful’s Pace Setter Home of the Year. 53 pages were dedicated to Liljestrand House, including text written by Betty, and photographs by Howard Liljestrand and Maynard Parker Studio.
Requests to visit the house were overwhelming so Betty trained a group of Punahou School
students to give tours of the house. She provided them with a script, which is still the
basis for tours given today, over 70 years later. Between 1958 and 1959, over 3,500 people toured the house. They were charged $2, which was donated to Central Union Church.
