Lakewood Masonic Temple (3/22/2019)

Friday, March 22, 2019
Another Lenten Fish Fry took us to Lakewood, OH, to the local Masonic Temple. There we joined Josefina and Fernando F, and Josefina's brother, Luis. After the meal we took advantage of the free tour of the building.

Lakewood Masonic Temple (1915-1916, by James W Chrisford
in Classical or Grecian style), constructed of
Bedford limestone and described as "fireproof"

The Lodge Room (here at the stage end) is decorated in
Egyptian Temple motif as in the era of King Solomon,
the time to which the Masons trace their origins

The Lodge Room, where all the Masonic ceremonies take place,
has a Votteler-Holtkamp-Sparling pipe organ that is a rare example
of a tubular pneumatic organ still in its original state

Detail of the Lodge Room ceiling

A decorated pilaster in the Lodge Room

One of the twin pillars reflecting the pillars of
Jachin and Boaz at the Temple of Solomon

One of several anterooms

The Stair Hall with a winding staircase of white marble

A gavel doorknocker

A masonic symbol is the square and compass
with the letter 'G', which "stands for 'Geometry,'
the mathematical science upon which Architecture
and Masonry were founded"

Below the Lodge Room is the ballroom, with its original hardwood floor
(Look! there's Josefina, guide George, Kent, and Fernando)