Couer d'Alene Lodge # 20 is a registered historic landmark, following excerpt from registration form 26 March 1987.

The Murray Masonic Hall is significant under criterion "a" for its
association with a fraternal order important in the early social life of
Idaho's late nineteenth-century mining towns. The Ancient and Accepted Order
of Freemasons was often one of the first organizations established in Idaho's
late nineteenth century towns, providing a network for the highly-mobile,
predominantly male mining population. The building is significant under
criterion "c" as an excellent example of the Italianate style. Surviving
examples of the Italianate style are rare in Idaho. The Murray Masonic Hall
is the only building in the Idaho Historic Sites Inventory that represents the
use of Italianate features in a institutional/commercial frame building
(sometimes called "False Front Pioneer" Italianate).
The Murray Masonic Hall was constructed during the period 1884-1886, soon
after the town was formed as a mining community in the Coeur d'Alene District.
A gold rush to the Murray-Eagle area of the district occurred in 1883-1884,
bringing a population of about 1500 into the town by 1885. Like other Idaho
mining towns, Murray acquired a Masonic lodge during its first few years. In
addition to the Masonic rituals, lodges provided a number of amenities to the
miners and businessmen in these towns, including a place for dances and other
social events, Masonic funerals, mutual support in financial crises, and a
sense of fellowship among members. Although the Masonic lodges were not
active in politics, many prominent Masons were elected to state and local
offices. Historians of Masonry suggest that the lodge provided a social
network helpful to these local politicians. Masonic halls were often among the
first, most substantial institutional/commercial buildings in Idaho's late
nineteen century towns. Halls were built of substantial materials, if
possible, and were designed in the formal styles of their day. In addition to
housing a Masonic temple (usually on the second story), Masonic halls were
located in commercial areas and provided first-story commercial space that was
leased to local merchants. Early Masonic lodges in Idaho were established in
Lewiston, Idaho City and other Boise Basin towns, Florence, Mount Idaho,
Silver City and other Owyhee mining towns, and Murray. The Idaho Historic Sites Inventory records fifteen extant Masonic halls dating from 1865 through 1910. Five of these buildings can be identified as late nineteenth century.
The Murray Masonic Hall clearly fits the pattern of Masonic hall architecture.
By local standards, it was a substantial and stylistically elaborate building.
It provided a first story commercial storefront on the main street of Murray,
and it has a well-preserved second-floor Masonic temple that is still in use.
Because Idaho settlement occurred late in the popularity of the Greek
Revival, Gothic Revival, and Italianate styles, those styles are relatively
rare in Idaho architecture. Examples tend to be modest frame renditions found
principally in the late nineteenth-century mining towns and Mormon villages
of 1860 through the 1880s. Although many such buildings are documented in the
photography of that period, mining town architecture was and is a very fragile
resource and few examples survive to represent Greek Revival, Gothic Revival,
and Italianate style mining town buildings. In the Idaho Historic Sites
Inventory the Italianate style is represented by one institutional/commercial
building—the Murray Masonic Hall—and by two frame houses in Bellevue, one
brick house in Weiser, and several southeast Idaho central hall houses with
Italianate bay windows or porches. The Murray Masonic Hall provides an
excellent and well-preserved example of the Italianate style in frame
construction. The building's false front is typical of Idaho buildings no
longer extant and of the slightly earlier buildings of the Williamette Valley,
Oregon. The false front remains essentially intact: On the first story two
doors and sidelights have been removed, but the remainder of the storefront is
intact. The entirety of the second story facade is intact. The major
alteration to the building—rearrangement of siding on half of the rear wall
and the entire east side wall—affects the building's integrity to some degree
but is considerably mitigated by the excellent integrity of the building's
front wall and second floor interior and by its rarity in the context of Idaho architecture.

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Murray is located in the northern part of the rich Coeur d'Alene mining
region of North Idaho. The small town sits in a narrow valley drained by
Prichard Creek, with steep wooded mountains rising to the north and south.
The creek has been heavily dredged for several miles around the town and large
piles of tailings form a prominent part of the local landscape. Most of the
buildings line the one main road which runs east-west through town. A number
of them date from the same boom period as the Murray Masonic Hall, including
the large frame structure next door. Many of the older buildings have
disappeared over time, however, leaving large gaps of vacant lots along the
once busy street.
The two-and-a-half story frame Masonic hall sits on the south side of
Main Street, just east of the Bedroom Gold Mine Bar. The two buildings are
separated by about three feet and are fronted by a wide board walkway. The
lodge building is rectangular, measuring 24 x 36 feet. The frame walls
utilize 2x6 studs on the first story and 2x4 studs above. The building
was originally sheathed with boards and battens on both the side and rear
walls but these remain only on the west wall and rear gable. The original
boards were removed from the east wall and lower rear in about 1957 or 1958
and turned horizontally in an effort to give the building more stability. The
lodge is topped with a gable roof with no overhang at the rear and very narrow
eaves along the sides. Metal roofing has replaced the original wooden shakes.
The front wall of the Masonic hall looks much as it did over 100 years
ago. The first story is divided into four uneven bays by three narrow
pilasters with grooved designs. Two plain wooden pilasters with simple
capitals flank the lower facade and four curvilinear wooden brackets support
the narrow pent roof above the first story. The narrow left bay held the
doorway leading to the second-floor meeting room. This entry is now boarded
over, but the two-paned transom remains. Two glazed bays, each with six large glass panes above a wooden panel, flank the main entrance. The original storefront door and sidelights have been replaced with a modern door and plywood panels, but the two-paned transom remains.

The upper facade is symmetrical in design. Four evenly spaced 2/2 double
hung sash windows are trimmed with wooden molding shaped to give the appearance
of a lintel with a keystone. A smaller single paned window with a segmentally
arched lintel is set in the center of the attic gable. The upper facade is
sided with milled shiplap with vertical trim boards at the corners. The false
front incorporates the gable peak, and five pairs of elaborate curvilinear
brackets support the shallow wooden cornice.
On the interior of the Masonic building, the first floor now serves
primarily as a storage area. It has seen two major alterations over the
years. The first occurred about 1957, when the interior stairway was moved to
the outside along the east wall, giving additional space to the first floor.
The second change was made more recently when large trusses were installed to
provide extra support for the second floor meeting room. This caused the
ceiling downstairs to be lowered about four feet.
The most significant part of the interior is the lodge meeting room on
the second floor. The room shows very little alteration over its one hundred
years of use by the Coeur d'Alene Lodge No. 20. A rich red wool carpet with
floral design covers the floor. The wallpaper, with a subdued floral pattern
set in vertical bands, is now cracked and peeling and in some spots reveals an
earlier wallpaper in a bold geometric pattern. A wide patterned border on the
wallpaper encircles the top of the room. The original ceiling material is now
covered with varnished tongue and groove boards. A couple of bare light bulbs
hang from the ceiling to illuminate the room, but the original kerosene wall
lamps with elaborate metal hangers remain and are used on special occasions.
A slightly raised platform for seating runs along both side walls and a simple
three-step dais for the Worshipful Master's station is set at the north end of
the room. The station is flanked by two free-standing Corinthian columns on
pedestal bases. Other Masonic symbols and insignia are seen in decorations
around the walls.