Trillium Cafe & Inn

Some Mendocino buildings do not just hold a business — they hold whole chapters of village life.

Overview

Trillium Cafe & Inn occupies the historic Bank House at the corner of Albion and Kasten Streets, one of Mendocino's most recognizable early twentieth-century buildings.

The Bank House was built in 1908 by Perley Maxwell as a private residence. Over the decades it changed from home to coffee house, gift shop, restaurant and inn, with names including Pyewacket, Uncommon Good, Mousse Cafe and the Blue Heron Inn before becoming Trillium.

Today Trillium combines a restaurant downstairs with guest rooms upstairs. Its current website lists the business at 10390 Kasten Street and describes it as Mendocino village lodging and dining.

Location

The Bank House stands at 10390 Kasten Street, on the corner of Albion and Kasten Streets.

Older historic records use the address 390 Kasten Street for the same property. Mendocino County's historic-building inventory identifies it as APN 119-237-09, historic name Bank House, built in 1908 and classified as a Category I historic structure. At the time of the 1992 inventory, its recorded use was coffee house and gifts.

Its location just uphill from Main Street places it in a particularly historic cluster of Mendocino buildings, close to the former Bank of Commerce, the Jarvis & Nichols property, and several surviving nineteenth-century landmarks.

History

The Bank House was built in 1908 by Perley Maxwell. Historic photographs preserved by the Kelley House Museum show the house soon after construction, with its distinctive barn-like roofline and white picket fence already giving it much the same overall shape recognized today.

The house stood directly behind Mendocino's new Bank of Commerce, which was also under construction in 1908. That relationship appears to be the source of the familiar Bank House name. A 1908 photograph of the Bank of Commerce shows the Bank House clearly behind it.

Although originally built as a residence, the house eventually moved into commercial use. By the early 1990s, County records described it as a coffee house and gift shop. Over time, a succession of restaurants occupied the building. The Kelley House Museum specifically identifies Pyewacket, Uncommon Good, Blue Heron Inn and Mousse Cafe among the businesses that operated there before Trillium.

Then came the event that nearly ended the building's story. In 1994, the Bank House was severely damaged by an arson fire. Rather than abandon the property, owner Allan Cone chose to rebuild it. The reconstructed building was completed in 1995 in the same architectural style as the 1908 original. After the rebuilding, the Chocolate Mousse Cafe reopened downstairs and the Blue Heron Inn again operated upstairs.

That detail is important when looking at the Bank House today. The structure visitors see is not entirely the untouched 1908 building. It is a careful 1995 reconstruction of the historic Bank House following the 1994 fire, designed to preserve the appearance and character of the original.

The Building Today

Trillium became the next major chapter. Current secondary histories place Sandra and Saul McElroy's transformation of the property into Trillium Cafe & Inn in 2014, continuing the building's established combination of food and lodging. Sandra McElroy brought experience from other Mendocino Coast restaurants and developed Trillium around seasonal California cooking, seafood, vegetables and house-made desserts.

Today Trillium remains very much alive as both restaurant and inn. Its current site lists dinner seven nights a week and limited lunch service, and photographs show dining rooms, garden and deck seating along with the upstairs Village View and Ocean View rooms.

The Bank House has also had a little television fame. The Kelley House Museum notes that it appeared as the Cabot Cove Travel Agency during Season 4 of Murder, She Wrote, another example of Mendocino's buildings quietly doubling for Jessica Fletcher's fictional Maine hometown.

Why It Matters

The building's story is not simply built in 1908 and now a restaurant. It began as a Perley Maxwell residence, became part of Mendocino's commercial life, housed coffee and gift businesses, passed through a string of memorable restaurants and an upstairs inn, survived a devastating 1994 arson fire, was reconstructed in 1995, appeared on television, and ultimately became Trillium Cafe & Inn. More than a century after Perley Maxwell built the original house, people are still coming through the door for coffee, meals, conversation and a place to stay.

Community Memories

One community memory from the original history post recalls the Bank House as a place where people could buy very good coffee beans, have them ground, and sit down with a pastry.

Timeline

1908 — Perley Maxwell builds the Bank House behind the new Bank of Commerce.

By the early 1990s — County records describe the building as a coffee house and gift shop.

Late 20th century — Pyewacket, Uncommon Good, Blue Heron Inn and Mousse Cafe occupy the building.

1994 — The Bank House is severely damaged by an arson fire.

1995 — Owner Allan Cone completes reconstruction in the original architectural style.

2014 — Sandra and Saul McElroy open Trillium Cafe & Inn.

Present — Trillium operates as a restaurant with guest rooms upstairs.

Sources & Original Research: Kelley House Museum, The Bank House — 1908 construction by Perley Maxwell, later restaurant occupants, the 1994 arson fire, reconstruction by owner Allan Cone, and the building's appearance as the Cabot Cove Travel Agency in Murder, She Wrote; Kelley House Museum, Elevated View of Kasten Street in Mendocino, 1908; Kelley House Museum, Building Mendocino: Tin Roofs; Kelley House Museum, Bank of Commerce; Mendocino County Mendocino Town Plan Historic Building Inventory — APN 119-237-09, Category I, historic name Bank House, built 1908, older address 390 Kasten Street, recorded 1992 use coffee house and gifts; Trillium Cafe & Inn official website; Casago Mendocino Coast — Trillium history including the McElroy family's 2014 chapter. Community memory contributed by Nancy Fereira. Compilation by Gee Bee.