His adopted son John Gregg Allerton had studied architecture at the University of Illinois in the 1920s.

In 1938 they came to Hawaii and purchased a relatively small portion of Queen Emma's plantation for a residence and gardens.

They quickly began designing the landscape master plan and individual gardens, incorporating Hawaiian and new plants they had acquired from tropical Asia and other Pacific Islands, built landscape elements, and sculptures from "The Farms."

Allerton would later join a group of individuals and organizations who were pushing for the establishment of a tropical botanical garden on U.S. soil.

This picturesque setting has been used in a number of films and TV shows, including South Pacific, Donovan's Reef, Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Starsky and Hutch and Magnum, P.I.