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11 Most Endangered
Bok Kai Temple
Year Listed: 2001
Location: Marysville , California
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Deterioration, Natural Forces
The surviving temple murals located above the front entry depicting vivid scenes of Chinese culture have been stabilized
Credit: Joan Mann, July 2007
Significance
Situated on the north bank of the Yuba River, in the heart of northern California's Sacramento Valley, the Bok Kai Temple is the oldest continuously operating Chinese temple in Northern California. Constructed in 1880, the temple served as a place of worship, community center, and court of law for a flourishing Chinese community attracted to the area by the California gold rush. More than 120 years later, the temple remains in use for worship and is celebrated by the entire Marysville community during the annual Bok Kai Festival. The temple is particularly significant for its rare exterior murals depicting Chinese cultural traditions, and an intact interior of gilded altars honoring Chinese water god Bok Eye and other deities.
Updates
Time, weather, and proximity to the Yuba River have taken their toll on the Bok Kai Temple, damaging the temple murals and furnishings and undermining the structural integrity of the building. Marysville faces significant economic challenges, and its now dispersed Chinese community lacked the resources restore the temple alone.
In 2002, the National Trust awarded more than $7,000 to the Bok Kai Temple to prepare a Historic Structures Report and an assessment and conservation plan for the Temple's unique exterior murals, threatened by the instability of the underlying walls and the ravages of weather. A five-year Preservation Campaign for the temple was launched in 2003 with the goal of completing restoration of the Temple by 2008. Since the start of the campaign, the Temple has completed an estimated $280,000 in restoration and conservation work on the temple building, including stabilization of the temple portico and portico murals, and replacing the roof. The Temple is still working their goal of raising the full $2,000,000 required to completely restore and preserve the Bok Kai Temple building.
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