The Temple of Kwan Tai is a small brightly painted red and green redwood building with two doors, three windows, and a gable roof,[2][3] located at 45160 Albion St in Mendocino, facing south toward the Pacific Ocean.

Signboards recording prayers and donations are displayed on the temple walls, a collection of flags, drums, and baskets stands to the left of the altar, and the room also holds two wooden benches and a furnace for burning offerings.

Chinese farmers also grew fruit and vegetables for local consumption in gardens now located on the grounds of the Stanford Inn, and gathered and processed seaweed for export back to China.

[7] An oral account by Mendocino resident George Hee (a grandson of one of its builders) states that the temple was originally built in 1854;[4] however, other sources date it to 1852[9] or 1867,[3] and the earliest record of it is an insurance company map from 1883.

He married a white woman in the early 1940s, defying anti-miscegenation laws in California that remained in force until the 1948 court decision Perez v. Sharp, and in turn passed the property to his two daughters, Loretta Hee McCoard and Lorraine Hee-Chorley.

[3][4] The building was restored beginning in 1998 and 1999, under the guidance of architect Laura Culberson and with funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the California Coastal Resources Agency.

[4] The temple was rededicated in October 2001 in a religious and cultural ceremony featuring a parade, a lion dance, martial arts exhibitions, and attendance by Buddhist nuns from the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas as well as local politicians.

[3][7] As well as continuing to serve as a house of worship, the temple has a mission of educating members of the Mendocino community and visitors about Chinese contributions to California history.