Detroit Masonic Temple

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Detroit Masonic Temple
(U.S. National Register of Historic Places)
Detroit Masonic Temple
Location:	500 Temple Ave., Detroit, Michigan  United States
Built/Founded:	1922
Architect:	George Mason
Architectural style(s):	Neo-gothic architecture
Added to NRHP:	November 11, 1980

The Detroit Masonic Temple is a large-events venue located in downtown Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Avenue. It was designed by George Mason, one of Detroit's premier architects of the time. The cornerstone was placed on September 19, 1922 using the same trowel that George Washington had used to set the cornerstone of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.. The building was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. The building contains 14 floors and has 1037 units/rooms inside. The building also serves as headquarters to fifty Detroit-area Masonic organizations.

Detroit Masonic Temple was designed in the neo-gothic architectural style, using a great deal of limestone for its materials.

Much of the stone, plaster and metal work in the interior of the building was designed and executed by neo-gothic architectural style, 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.

Contents 1 Description 2 Architectural sculpture 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Description

At one end of the building is the 14-story, 210-foot Ritualistic Building, home to most of the Masonic organizations that call the Masonic Temple home. At the other end is ten-story Moslem Temple tower. In between are a 1,586-seat Scottish Rite Cathedral, a 17,500-square-foot drill hall used for trade shows, conventions, and a floating floor, plus two ballrooms--one of which measures 17,264 square feet and holds up to 1,000.

And there is also, of course, the 4,404-seat Masonic Temple Theater, used for concerts, Broadway shows and other special events. It contains a 55-foot-by-100-foot stage.

• This is the largest Masonic Temple in the World.
• This large complex includes a 14-story Ritual Building connected to a 10-story Shrine Club by the 7-story Auditorium Building.
• The complex is located across Temple Avenue from Cass Park.
• The building can be seen from Cass Tech
• The complex is located in an area known as Cass Corridor.
• The Detroit Masonic Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
• The temple's power plant could supply electricity for a city of 50,000.
• The Masonic Temple Theater seats 4,404 and is said to be one of the best theaters in the United States.
• Home of Detroit Lodge #2 any many others

[edit] Architectural sculpture

Architect Mason

[edit] References

• Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3. 
• Kvaran, Einar Einarsson. Architectural Sculpture in America. unpublished. 
• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4. 
• (1926) Masonic Temple:A.D. 1926, A.L. 5926. no publisher listed. 

[edit] External links

• Detroit Masonic Temple Website
• Masonic Temple Theater
• Google Maps location of Detroit Masonic Temple
• Detroit Masonic Temple details at Emporis.com
• SkyscraperPage.com's Profile on Detroit Masonic Temple

Coordinates: 42°20′29.11″N, 83°3′36.56″W