Lansing House, 1931. The south (front) and west sides of the Lansing House, built by David Lansing in 1855 with lumber milled in San Francisco and shipped to Mendocino. Captain Lansing died in 1877, and the house went to his daughter, Julia Lansing Morrow and her husband, J. J. Morrow. In 1888, the house was purchased by Oscar M. Stone, a Main Street watchmaker and jeweler, who made some improvements to the property, including the construction of the water tower in 1897. He deeded the property to his son, Albert G. “Bert” Stone, who also inherited the family jewelry business, and his wife Annie.
In 1936, Bert Stone sold this property to the Mendosa Brothers, who converted it to a duplex rental, and at the same time built a double garage on the east side of the house.
Lansing House, January 2022
Behind the main building is the enclosed tank house with its water tank and windmill. Two other water towers are visible in this photograph: the Daniels-Nicholson House water tower (built in 1907) seen in the background on the far left and located on Ukiah Street; and on the right the tank and tower associated with the former Mendocino Bottling Works on Evergreen Avenue and built between 1890 and 1894.
Just visible to the right of the Lansing House is the McCornack House (Didgeridoo Inn in 2022). Farthest right is a shed with a corrugated roof, attached to a taller barn belonging to the Lansing property. A decorative picket fence runs along Main Street.
More historical photos of Mendocino available in “Perley Maxwell’s Mendocino,” by Bruce Levene. Includes the Mendocino High School Photography Students 2002 Then & Now Project. $25.