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Wisconsin Scottish Rite Cathedral (Plymouth Congregational Church)

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1889, Edward Townsend Mix; 1912, Leenhouts and Guthrie; 1937, Herbert Tullgren. 790 N. Van Buren St.
  • (Photograph by Andrew Hope)
  • (Photograph by Andrew Hope)

This Art Moderne Masonic meeting hall began as a Romanesque Revival church, home to the Plymouth Congregational Church until 1912. A prominent Masonic fraternal order purchased and remodeled the church, but the most extensive alterations were done in 1937, when the Masons transformed the structure into one of the city’s most impressive Art Moderne exteriors. The few remaining original exterior parts are the rusticated limestone foundation and a brick wall along the east alley. The redesigned exterior features limestone cladding and an addition on its south side, but the building’s streamlined restyling retained the massing of the original 1889 building. Other impressive exterior features are the hand-carved Masonic symbols and statues at the roofline. The parapet wall crowning the corner tower features life-sized carved images of the Knights of St. Andrew, title of the 29th level Masonic degree, conferred in the Consistory of the Royal Secret.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Marsha Weisiger et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Cathedral
Woman’s Club of Wisconsin
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company Home Office
Milwaukee Gas Light Company Building
Northern Trust (Northwestern National Insurance Company Building)

Citation

Marsha Weisiger et al., "Wisconsin Scottish Rite Cathedral (Plymouth Congregational Church)", [Milwaukee, Wisconsin], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-MI8.

Print Source

Buildings of Wisconsin

Buildings of Wisconsin, Marsha Weisiger and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2017, 73-73.

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