House of the Temple
The House of the Temple | |
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16th St NW | |
Town or city | Washington, D.C. |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 38°54′50″N 77°02′09″W / 38.9138°N 77.0359°W |
Construction started | October 18, 1911 |
Completed | October 18, 1915 |
Client | Scottish Rite of Freemasonry |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Russell Pope |
The House of the Temple (officially, Home of The Supreme Council, 33°, Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction, Washington D.C., U.S.A.) is a
Designed by
The Temple also holds a permanent large collection of materials related to Scottish poet and Freemason Robert Burns, one of the world’s largest, in its library holdings, which Library was the first public library in Washington, D.C.[1]
History
On May 31, 1911, 110 years after the founding of the Supreme Council, Grand Commander James D. Richardson broke ground on the spot where the House of the Temple now stands in Washington, D.C. Grand Master J. Claude Keiper, of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, laid the cornerstone in the northeast corner on October 18, 1911.[2]
The temple was designed by architect
The building was dedicated four years later on October 18, 1915.The building's design was widely praised by contemporary architects, and it won Pope the Gold Medal of the Architectural League of New York in 1917. In his 1920 book L'Architecture aux États-Unis, French architect Jacques Gréber described it as "a monument of remarkable sumptuousness ... the ensemble is an admirable study of antique architecture stamped with a powerful dignity." Fiske Kimball's 1928 book American Architecture describes it as "an example of the triumph of classical form in America". In the 1920s, a panel of architects named it "one of the three best public buildings" in the United States, along with the Nebraska State Capitol and the Pan American Union Building in Washington, D.C. In 1932, it was ranked as one of the ten top buildings in the country in a poll of federal government architects.[3]
In 1944, the remains of former Sovereign Grand Commander and Confederate General
The House of the Temple is designated as a contributing property to the Sixteenth Street Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[7]
From 1990 to 2011, the temple hosted a
In popular culture
In the 2009 novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, the building is the setting for several key scenes.[10]
See also
Part of a series on |
Freemasonry |
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- List of Masonic buildings in the United States
- List of Masonic libraries
- Masonic Temple (Washington, DC), nearby building that was a Masonic temple from 1903 to 1983.
- Julius Lansburgh Furniture Co., Inc., office building that was a Masonic temple from 1870 to 1921.
References
- ^ a b Helwig, Anne H.; Ganschinietz, Suzanne (January 30, 1978). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form". National Capital Planning Commission. (National Park Service). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 21, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ Bell, Debra (January 6, 2010). "The Freemasons In Washington". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on 2010-01-06. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- ^ House of the Temple Archived 2007-01-17 at the Wayback Machine, The Supreme Council, 33°, A.A. & S.R. of Freemasonry, S.J., USA website, accessed June 18, 2010
- ^ Kelly, John (October 22, 2016). "Why is Confederate general Albert Pike memorialized at Judiciary Square?". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
- ^ Simpkins, Travis. "John Henry Cowles, 33°. Past Sovereign Grand Commander. Scottish Rite, SJ. by Travis Simpkins". Retrieved 2023-08-29.
- ISBN 9781610752435.
- ^ "16th Street Historic District". National Park Service. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
- ^ "Plot Map". The Temple Garden. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
- ^ Roso, Larissa (April 19, 2011). "Garden to Close for Masonic Temple renovation". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2012-08-24.
- National Public Radio. Retrieved September 18, 2009.