Built in 1866, Mendocino’s Masonic Hall on Lansing Street has been home to many businesses and organizations. In March 1865, a group of Masons living in Mendocino met with the purpose of forming a lodge on the coast. The Mendocino Lodge No. 179 formed in October and is believed to be the oldest fraternal body in continuous existence on the Mendocino coast.
The lodge commissioned Erick Jensen Albertson and John Gschwend to construct the Lansing Street building. William Heeser donated the land. The pair used local redwood in the construction, including in the carving of the Time and the Maiden statue.
Time and the Maiden depicts a weeping maiden who holds an urn and sprig of acacia. She stands facing a broken column and an open book with an hourglass at her feet (although neither figure in the sculpture actually has feet). Father Time stands behind the maiden, complete with wings and a scythe. He is braiding the maiden’s hair.
Albertson carved the sculpture by hand out of a single redwood log. He began carving the log several years before the Mendocino Lodge formed while working at the local lumber mill. During his down time, Albertson would retreat to his cabin at Big River Beach and carve the redwood by candlelight. Time and the Maiden stands ten feet tall and took Albertson seven years to complete. He was paid $1,000 for the finished piece.
For a 154-year-old statue, Time and the Maiden has held up incredibly well with minimal repairs through the years. In 1913, Perley Maxwell and Joe Valadao made repairs to the statue to better secure it to the Masonic Hall. The Mendocino Beacon reported “It will take a pretty husky earthquake to disturb them after these gentlemen get through with their work.”
The sculpture received new paint many times throughout the years. In 2014, the entire Masonic Hall was repainted with new acrylic-based exterior paint and weatherproofing measures taken. Dave Latoof, who worked on the project, said his crew discovered that Father Time’s wings were once painted silver, but the color had been covered up.
Fans of Murder, She Wrote will recognize the Masonic Hall as the Cabot Cove Courthouse, which appears in several episodes. Notably, the camera crew tried to frame shots of the hall so that Time and the Maiden did not appear in the episodes, as the statue is well recognized as a Mendocino landmark. It does, however, appear fleetingly in one episode.
Averee McNear is the curator at the Kelley House Museum in Mendocino, Calif.
Time, patience, and perseverance will accomplish all things.