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Restored gardens may include pagan sculpture

Bertha Turner, an owner of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, looks into the reflecting pool in the early 1900s. The garden at Pioneer Park, including the pool's fountainhead, is being reconstructed this year . Photo courtesy WSU Libraries Department of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. (Photo courtesy WSU Libraries Department of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. / The Spokesman-Review)
By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com(509) 459-5454
Bertha Turner, an owner of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, looks into the reflecting pool in the early 1900s. The garden at Pioneer Park, including the pool's fountainhead, is being reconstructed this year . Photo courtesy WSU Libraries Department of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. (Photo courtesy WSU Libraries Department of Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections. / The Spokesman-Review)

In planning restoration of the historic Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens in Spokane, conservators decided the garden needs a replica of a pagan god that once spouted water for a small fountain.

Lynn Mandyke, who is overseeing reconstruction of the gardens this year, says she has searched all over the world for a mask of Pan sculpture.

A company in England wanted $500, but when Mandyke offered to make a purchase, the company declined to ship to the United States.

Another Pan was deemed too evil-looking for a public garden.

Pan was a Greek god with horns that watched over and protected nature and wildlife. The Romans called their version of the same diety Faunus.

Mandyke, of the city Parks and Recreation Department staff, said she finally found a sculpture of Faunus at a Tulsa, Okla., garden accents company that is willing to ship the item to Spokane for $162.

Mandyke said if the Faunus sculpture doesn’t make it to the garden, she is going to give up.

“I’ve had so much trouble finding a mask of Pan,” she said. “The mask of Pan is my living nightmare.”

Originally the mask of Pan sculpture served as a fountainhead for a reflecting pool in the main perennial garden midway up the hillside garden in Pioneer Park near Seventh Avenue and Stevens Street.

“The mask of Pan is referenced in period newspaper articles, so we felt we needed a mask of Pan,” Mandyke said.

A.M. Landshaper Inc. of Spokane, contractor for the $1.4 million project, is expected to finish reconstruction of the gardens by midsummer with an opening tentatively set for mid- to late August.

Shipping of some of the plants has been delayed. Greenacres Nursery in Spokane Valley has been supplying nearly 800 plants, which were ordered from around the country.

“There were a lot of plants that were circa 1900,” said Jay Naccarato, owner of the nursery.

The contractor plans to install the mask of Faunus where the former mask of Pan had been located.

The gardens originally were part of private landscaping for two prominent pioneer families, including a former U.S. senator. Their mansion was torn down in 1940 and the gardens fell into ruin, only to be “rediscovered” by Mandyke and others in 1998.