About Kora Shriners
This Moorish-style building surpasses all others in Lewiston. Crowned by two Eastern-style verdigris domes and lined with banks of exquisitely-carved windows across the brick facade, the central door even is topped by a Saracen head with beard and burnoose! Inside, beautiful murals decorate the banquet hall. Originally commissioned by Masons, the Shriners now use the building for meetings and social events. The Kora Shriners' Temple is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Harry Cochrane, a Maine man who decorated his first church in 1887, the same year in which he married Ida Lorena Gott of Monmouth. In an era of grand decoration, of stenciling and free-hand ornamentation of walls and ceilings, of marbleizing of plaster and wood, of gilding, and of painting murals and large in-situ oil paintings, Cochrane soon achieved regional acclaim for his work. Between 1887 and his death in 1946, he was commissioned to decorate upwards of 400 public buildings in Maine and New England, including churches, parish halls, convents, banks, and courthouses.
In 1898, he won first prize in a competition to decorate the convention halls and rooms for the huge Knights Templar triennial conclave in Pittsburgh. Perhaps his most spectacular mural project would be the 1927 decoration of the Kora Temple in Lewiston.
Cochrane's talents extended far beyond murals, however. A true Renaissance man, he was a prolific poet, and an accomplished singer, composer, and conductor. Appointed in 1920 by Governor Milliken to be chairman of the Maine Centennial Committee, Cochrane wrote and produced a motion picture called The Romance of Maine. His Hymn, Prince of Peace, is still sung in Monmouth churches, and his best known painting, The Man on Horseback, now hangs in Monmouth's Methodist church. In addition, Cochrane established his own photographic studio in Gardiner.
Need more information?
Please contact us by phone at 207-782-6831 or by e-mail at office at korashriners.org. We would be happy to either provide you with the information you need or point you to where you need to go.
