The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history In ...

. Located in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the

York Rite The York Rite, sometimes referred to as the American Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. It is named for, but not practiced in York, Yorkshire, England. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic ...

Sovereign College of

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. The building contains a variety of public spaces including three theaters, three ballrooms and banquet halls, and a clear-span drill hall. Recreational facilities include a

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

court, gymnasium, bowling alley, and a pool hall. It is currently the home of the Detroit Handball Club. The building includes numerous lodge rooms, offices, and dining spaces, as well as a hotel section. Although the hotel rooms are available to any noble of the mystic shrine or blue lodge mason, none are currently in usable condition. Architect

George D. Mason George DeWitt Mason (July 4, 1856 – June 3, 1948) was an American architect who practiced in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, in the latter part of the 19th and early decades of the 20th centuries. Biography George Mason was born in Syracuse, New Yo ...

designed the whole structure as well as the Masonic Temple Theatre, a venue for concerts, Broadway shows, and other special events in the

Detroit Theater District The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Do ...

. It contains a stage, one of the largest in the country. The Detroit Masonic Temple was designed in the neo-gothic architectural style, using a great deal of limestone. The ritual building features 16 floors, stands tall, with 1,037 rooms. It dominates the skyline in an area known as Cass Corridor, across Temple Street from

Cass Park The Cass Park Historic District is a historic district in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, consisting of 25 buildings along the streets of Temple, Ledyard, and 2nd, surrounding Cass Park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in ...

, and Cass Technical High School. It is within walking distance of the Little Caesars Arena and the MotorCity Casino Hotel.

History

New Masonic Temple, Temple Avenue and Second Boulevard (NBY 5094)

The Masonic Temple Association was incorporated in Detroit in 1894. It moved into its first temple, on Lafayette Boulevard at First Street, in 1896. Outgrowing these quarters, the Association purchased land on Bagg Street (now Temple Avenue) to build a new temple that would also include a public theater. Fund-raising for construction of the building raised $2.5 million (equivalent to $ million in ), and ground-breaking took place on Thanksgiving Day, 1920.Zietz, Karyl Lynn (1996)
''The National Trust Guide to Great Opera Houses in America''
p. 103. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. The cornerstone was placed on September 19, 1922, using the same trowel that

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

had used to set the cornerstone of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C. The building was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium originally had a capacity of 5,000. Due to poor sight lines along the sides of the stage, nearly 600 seats were removed (or never used), reducing maximum seating to 4,404. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and is part of the

Cass Park Historic District The Cass Park Historic District is a historic district in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, consisting of 25 buildings along the streets of Temple, Ledyard, and 2nd, surrounding Cass Park. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in ...

, which was established in 2005. In April 2013, the building was reported to be in foreclosure over $152,000 in back taxes owed to Wayne County. The debt was paid off in May 2013, and in June 2013, it was revealed that $142,000 of the bill was footed by singer-songwriter Jack White, a Detroit native known for his work with The White Stripes. He wanted to help the temple in its time of need as they had helped his mother in a time of need: the temple gave her a job as an usher in the theater when she was struggling to find work. In response, the Detroit Masonic Temple Association renamed its Scottish Rite cathedral the Jack White Theater. In April 2022, after performing, White proposed to his partner Olivia Jean at the temple and later married her.

Architecture

Detroit December 2019 16 (Detroit Masonic Temple)

The Detroit Masonic Temple has been the largest

in the world since 1939, when the Chicago Masonic Temple was demolished. The stage of the auditorium is the second largest in the United States, having a width between walls of 100 feet (30 m) and a depth from the curtain line of 55 feet (17 m). The large complex includes a 16-story ritual building connected to a 10-story wing for the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, now known as Shriners International, by the 7-story Auditorium Building. In between these areas are a 1,586-seat Scottish Rite Cathedral, and a drill hall used for trade shows and conventions. The drill hall is also home to

Detroit Roller Derby Detroit Roller Derby (DRD) is a women's flat-track roller derby league based in Detroit, Michigan. The league was formed as Detroit Derby Girls in January 2005 and held their first bouts in February 2006. In November 2016, the league announced ...

. The drill hall has a floating floor, where the entire floor is laid on felt cushions. This type of construction, also known as a sprung floor, provides 'give' to the floor which tends to relieve the marchers. The building houses two

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

s: the Crystal Ballroom; and the Fountain Ballroom, the latter of which measures and accommodates up to 1,000 people. An unfinished theatre located in the top floor of the tower would have seated about 700. Seven "Craft Lodge Rooms" all have different decorative treatments, the motifs of decoration being taken from the Egyptian, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Gothic, and Romanesque styles. All of the artwork throughout the building, especially the decorated ceilings, was done under the direction of Italian artists. The building includes Royal Arch room, as well as a Commandery Asylum for the

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

. The Scottish Rite Cathedral has a seating capacity of 1600. Its stage is 64-feet (19.5 m) wide from wall to wall, with a depth of 37 feet (11 m) from the foot lights. Architect

designed the theatre, which contains a 55-foot-by-100-foot (17 x 30 m) stage. Detroit Masonic Temple was designed in the neo-gothic architectural style, and is faced with Indiana limestone. Although few Masonic buildings are in the Gothic style, the architect believed that Gothic best exemplified Masonic traditions. Much of the stone, plaster, and metal work in the interior of the building was designed and executed by

architectural sculptor Architectural sculpture is the use of sculptural techniques by an architect and/or sculptor in the design of a building, bridge, mausoleum or other such project. The sculpture is usually integrated with the structure, but freestanding works that a ...

Corrado Parducci. The three figures over the main entrance were by Leo Friedlander, while the rest of the considerable architectural sculpture on the exterior was by Bill Gehrke.

Gallery

File:MasonicTempleDetroit2.jpg File:MasonicTempleDetroit3.jpg File:MasonicTempleDetroit4.jpg File:MasonicTempleDetroit5.jpg

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Building websiteDetroit Lodge No. 2 F&AM – Detroit Masonic Temple Archive
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Site to view panoramic pictures of this spectacular building (Look down page for thumb of building)
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