Detroit Masonic Temple

Constructed over six years and completed in 1926, this Masonic Temple features the Gothic style of architecture and is located across from Cass Park in the Cass Corridor neighborhood of Detroit. When the cornerstone was laid in 1922, a trowel was used that George Washington had used for laying the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. The building has been the largest Masonic temple in the world since 1939 (when Chicago's was demolished) and contains 1,037 rooms! The Detroit Masonic Temple was listed individually in the National Register in 1980 and as part of the Cass Park Historic District in 2005. Two of the major Masonic groups that used to rent space in the building have moved out, but special events are still hosted here and its theaters are actively in use.

The first Freemasons in Michigan organized in 1764 at the British garrison at Fort Pontchartrain in Detroit as Zion Lodge No. 1. The city was the location of the Grand Lodge of Michigan, formed in 1826. The first Masonic Temple was built in Detroit in 1851 on Jefferson Avenue but proved too small for the growing membership by the early 1880s. Multiple Masonic groups met at scattered rented locations around Detroit by the early 1890s and decided to pool resources to build another Masonic Temple. The seven-story, red brick building opened in 1895 at First Street and Lafayette Boulevard. The auditorium held 750 people on the main floor and balcony but the facilities were filled to capacity by 1908. Adjacent land was purchased to expand the temple but the idea was abandoned by the Temple Association in 1913 in favor of a grander, even larger new building. Over two million dollars in donations were gathered for the project, and land spanning 400 feet along Bagg Street (now Temple Avenue) was chosen.

The Detroit architectural firm George Mason and Company designed the third Masonic Temple building. Thousands of Masons and their families gathered in Cass Park, across the street from the chosen site, on Thanksgiving day 1920 for a ceremony marking the beginning of the project. Two years later, a similar scene unfolded in the park when the cornerstone was laid on September 18th 1922.

Originally, the building was planned to be shaped like a Master's gavel. The exterior of the temple is clad in light grey Indiana limestone and is spartanly decorated with carving and tracery at the portals and windows. The temple is massed in three, flat-roofed sections: the Ritualistic Tower of 14 stories at one end; the 7-story Auditorium wing in the middle with a 4,000+-seat auditorium below a drill hall and above ballrooms; and the 10-story Shrine Tower on the other end. The three underground levels are a fourth section of the complex containing entertainment and recreational facilities.

The elaborate lobby was inspired by a castle in Palermo, Italy that George D. Mason had visited. The sculptor Corrado Parducci created light fixtures and chandeliers for the lobby, along with decorative arches and plaster decorations. One of the theaters within the Detroit Masonic Temple opened on George Washington's birthday, February 22nd, 1926. A second theater was built, but a third was only partially completed. The building also contains a Chapel, eight lodge rooms, a drill hall, two ballrooms, a cafeteria, and 16 bowling lanes.

In the 2010s, when the temple was in danger of being lost due to debts and a loss of the two major Masonic tenant groups (Moslem Shriners in 2003 and Scottish Rite in 2006), musician and Detroit native Jack White of the White Stripes donated most of the funds needed to pay the back taxes. Once, White's mother was struggling to find work and was given a job at the temple as an usher. In gratitude, a theater in the temple was renamed the Jack White Theater. The building continues to be used for concerts, special events, and masonic activities.

Boynton, Gary. NRHP Nomination of Detroit Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.

DeFoe, Jeff. Detroit Masonic Temple: From Grandeur to Ghetto. Masonic Magazine. November 10th 2018.

Masonic Temple. WXYZ-TV Detroit. U.S. 2010. YouTube video. Accessed July 28th 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8EVIVw409w.

Masonic Temple Association of Detroit. The History of Our Building, Welcome to the Masonic. January 1st 2021. Accessed July 28th 2021. https://www.themasonic.com/building_history.php.

Runyan, Robin. Mondry, Aaron. Detroit's most iconic buildings, mapped, Curbed Detroit. November 4th 2019. Accessed July 28th 2021. https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/most-iconic-greatest-buildings-detroit.

Stokes, Jeff. Detroit Masonic Temple, Detroit Lodge No. 2. August 30th 2012. Accessed July 28th 2021. http://www.detroitno2.com/v2/discussions/detroit-masonic-temple-from-grandeur-to-ghetto/.

Vollmert, Les. NRHP Nomination of Detroit Masonic Temple, Detroit, Michigan. National Register. Wsahington, DC. National Park Service, 1980.