Masonic Temple

A Neo-Gothic, terra-cotta facade was applied to the 1895 Masonic Temple, which was severely damaged in a lightning-caused fire in 1914. The new work retained the original fenestration pattern of paired windows separated by piers and added two additional bays on the Virginia Street facade. A fifth floor, much taller than those below, was constructed to house a new lodge room. As before, street-floor rooms were rented as commercial shops. The broad Tudor arch at the central entrance is flanked by canopied niches containing decidedly nonGothic globe lights on tall stands. Traceried fifth-floor windows are topped with crocketed ogee arches, and the roofline is punctuated with pinnacles, though the tallest of these have been removed. The Gothic style was a common choice for Masonic temples in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and this is a fine example of its execution.