Edward Jones / Bruce M. Fournier

Some Mendocino buildings look old at first glance, but their story is really about how carefully the village keeps borrowing from its own past.

The red, white-trimmed building at 45020 Ukiah Street has the proportions and appearance of an older Mendocino residence. Its steep roof, narrow windows, decorative trim, and traditional colors allow it to blend naturally into the historic village.

The documented record, however, points to a newer chapter. Mendocino County's updated historic-structure inventory identifies it as the Rego or Red House Rebuilt and says the earlier house was torn down and rebuilt as a replica in 2005.

Today, part of the building is occupied by the Mendocino office of Edward Jones financial advisor Bruce M. Fournier. The property also includes residential space and another distinctive structure toward the rear, giving the site a mixture of business, housing, and village-style architecture.

Location

The property is located at 45020 Ukiah Street in the historic village of Mendocino. County records also connect it with the alternate address 45045 Calpella Street because the parcel extends through the block and can be approached from both sides.

This portion of Ukiah Street contains a mixture of residences, visitor accommodations, restaurants, offices, gardens, and small commercial properties. Businesses frequently occupy buildings that retain the size and appearance of houses rather than conventional office buildings.

The Edward Jones office fits that pattern. From the street, the building looks more like a carefully maintained village residence than a national financial-services office.

Building and Property

The primary building is a two-story, Victorian-style structure painted deep red with contrasting white trim.

Its steep roofline, closely spaced upper windows, decorative corbels, horizontal siding, and traditional window proportions were chosen to reproduce the feeling of an older Mendocino house. Landscaping, stairs, walkways, and a freestanding business sign complete the Ukiah Street frontage.

The structure is old-fashioned in appearance but comparatively recent in construction. The county's updated inventory gives 2005 as its earliest documented year and explains that it replaced an earlier house while replicating the former building's appearance.

Real estate information from 2023 described it as a three-unit Victorian-style building constructed in 2005. At that time, one portion was leased to Edward Jones and two portions were used as apartment residences.

The larger parcel also includes a rear building commonly described in planning material as the Tower building. County review documents have addressed parking, access from Calpella Street, fencing, exterior trim, and other changes affecting the developed property.

A Rebuilt Historic Appearance

The red building illustrates an unusual part of Mendocino preservation.

It is not simply an old structure that survived unchanged. The earlier building was removed, and the replacement was designed to recreate its general historic appearance.

That distinction matters. A replica does not contain the same materials or uninterrupted physical history as the structure it replaces. It can, however, preserve the scale, shape, colors, and architectural rhythm of a street where a conventional modern office or apartment building might appear out of place.

The result is a building that feels familiar even to people who may not know when it was constructed.

Mendocino's historic-review process regulates exterior alterations, signs, additions, and other visible changes so that newer work remains compatible with the village. The treatment of this property shows how that process can extend beyond preserving old buildings to guiding replacements that borrow carefully from older local architecture.

Edward Jones and Bruce M. Fournier

The Edward Jones office at this address is operated by financial advisor Bruce M. Fournier.

Edward Jones' current listing identifies Fournier as an Accredited Asset Management Specialist and places his office at 45020 Ukiah Street. His listed areas of focus include retirement-income strategies, wealth strategies, business retirement plans, estate and legacy strategies, intergenerational planning, and financial planning for farmers and ranchers.

The office team also includes senior branch office administrator Sally Coppage. The Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce lists the business as the Mendocino office of Bruce Fournier and Sally Coppage.

The business is part of Edward Jones, but its setting is distinctly Mendocino. Instead of occupying a large commercial complex, the office operates inside a small village-style building surrounded by historic properties and residential streets.

The Edward Jones Sign

Even the business sign has been subject to Mendocino's historic-review process.

In 2023, the Mendocino Historical Review Board considered a request from Edward Jones, with Bruce Fournier acting as agent, to relocate a carved redwood sign on the property.

The proposed sign had a green background, white lettering and trim, and a smaller hanging panel identifying Bruce Fournier as the financial advisor. The sign was moved from one side of the stairs to the other rather than replaced with a large modern commercial sign.

That may seem like a minor detail, but it reflects how closely visible changes are considered in Mendocino. Materials, colors, size, lettering, location, and relationship to the building all contribute to whether a sign fits the village streetscape.

The Building Today

Today, the red building continues to combine commercial and residential uses.

The Edward Jones office occupies part of the property, while the upper and adjoining spaces preserve the mixed-use character common in Mendocino. The property does not separate work, housing, gardens, parking, and village architecture into entirely different zones. They share the same parcel.

From Ukiah Street, the building's red siding, white trim, steep roof, stairs, plantings, and modest sign create the appearance of a long-established village property.

Its true history is more complicated. The building looks old because it was deliberately designed to look old. Its importance lies not in surviving untouched from the nineteenth century, but in showing how Mendocino adapts a property for modern offices and housing while preserving the visual language of the village.

Community Memories

No community memories were included with the original post.

Timeline

Before 2005 --- An earlier house stands on the property.

2005 --- The earlier house is removed and a new building is constructed to replicate its historic appearance.

Later years --- The building is divided into commercial and residential spaces.

By 2023 --- Edward Jones occupies part of the three-unit Victorian-style building.

2023 --- The Mendocino Historical Review Board considers relocating the carved Edward Jones and Bruce Fournier sign beside the entrance.

Today --- Bruce M. Fournier continues operating an Edward Jones financial-services office at 45020 Ukiah Street.

Why It Matters

The Edward Jones building matters because it demonstrates that Mendocino's historic appearance is maintained in more than one way.

Some village buildings survive through generations of repairs and changing uses. Others disappear and are replaced. At 45020 Ukiah Street, the replacement was designed to echo the building and streetscape that came before it.

That makes the property part history and part interpretation.

The materials may be newer, but the scale, colors, roofline, trim, mixed uses, and modest business sign were all shaped by the older village surrounding them.

The result is a modern office and residential building that does not announce itself as modern. It quietly borrows from Mendocino's past and allows the present-day business inside to become another chapter in the village streetscape.