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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE |
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FREEMASONRY AND ASHEVILLE |
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Asheville's Masonic Temple (Scottish Rites Temple) is the home of the Blue Lodge,
called 'Mt. Hermon Lodge
118',chartered in 1847 and the Asheville Chapter No. 25 of the Royal Arch
Masons, chartered in 1852. Alternately referred to as the 'Masonic
Lodge' and later the 'Scottish Rite Cathedral,' the name emblazoned on the
lintel above the paired Ionic columns, reads "Scottish Rites Temple." Planning meetings were held for
the construction of the new temple between the Mt. Hermon Lodge 118 and
the Asheville Chapter, the Lodge of Perfection No. 1 in 1909, and in 1912
a location on Broadway was decided upon by the new nearly 500 member order.
The structure located at 80 Broadway in Asheville, is the design of
Richard Sharp Smith of the architectural firm, Smith and Carrier, who
was formerly in the employ of Richard Morris Hunt, the architect of the
Biltmore House. Smith designed the Masonic Temple in the same year that
he founded the North Carolina chapter of the American Institute of
Architects.
The cornerstone of the building was placed in June of 1913 and the building was completed in April of 1915 by the J.C. McPherson contracting company. It is constructed of pressed bricks manufactured by Alex C. Scott Brick Co. of Knoxville, TN. The four-story building is trimmed out in limestone and gray brick with a grey granite foundation. |
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The shallow first floor is
rusticated and the Norman arched entryway is framed by terracotta tile.
The bracketed, hipped red tile roof covers the front section of the
building and a gabled roof rises over the great hall to the rear of the
building, and accommodates the 24 large panoramic back-drops used in the
Masonic ceremonies and rituals. The facade is graced by a limestone
portico that reaches two stories and is fronted by four paired Ionic
columns. Above the columns is a broad lintel with "Scottish Rite
Cathedral" written on it and above the lintel rests a small balcony with
a balustrade, accessed from the fourth floor.
The interior of the building is spacious and once contained a bowling alley and a shuffle-board court, remnants of which may be seen today. Planning of the original structure called for a multiple-use building with a grand library, or reading room on the first floor, near the entry (still in place today) and the main offices and secretarial area just off the large lobby. On the first floor to the rear is a large dining room and the kitchen. The upper stories were to serve the various branches of the Lodge, including the activities of the Blue Lodge and the American or York Rite bodies, on the second floor. On the third floor the plan was to accommodate the activities of the Scottish Rite bodies. This plan was roughly followed in the building's purposes and use over the years. One of the most striking interior elements of the building is a series of drop panels that were created for the Scottish Rites rituals that were held in the buildings main auditorium on the 3rd-4th floors. The large hand-painted panels were the work of Chicago artist Thomas Gibbs Moses (1856 - 1934), an itinerate artist whose specialty was Scottish Rites panels and large theatrical panels. He also created panels for the much celebrated Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. He was born in Liverpool, England on July 21, 1856, but his parents, Lucius M. Moses and Mary Wingate Titcomb Moses were from New Hampshire and Maine, respectively. His father's occupation as a sea captain accounts for his English birth, as the family was allowed to travel with the sea captain. The work of Moses, though reportedly prolific and located in over 40 states, did not withstand the test of time and few large panels exist. The Asheville panels are remarkably well-preserved and have retained their color. The panels, originally created for the Scottish Rites are now being stored in the Temple where both the Scottish Rites and the Mt. Hermon Lodge shared the space for their rituals. The date of the panels in Asheville is included in the documents stored at the Lodge. Thomas Gibbs Moses became the owner of the Sosman and Landis Scenery Painting Studios of Chicago which began to produce stock scenery in 1884. The incorporation of Masonic rituals into the work of stock scenery first occurred in 1896 and was initiated by three Masons including Joseph S. Sosman of the Sosman and Landis Scenery Company. Before the large panels were created, the artists produced small watercolors that were used as models. When the larger panels were created, they were generally produced on canvas, linen or muslin that was prepared to accept the powder pigments that were bound with animal based binders. Thomas Gibbs Moses, was certainly one of the most proficient of these mural painters. A brief biography of Thomas Gibbs Moses is found on HEREDOM, Transactions of the Scottish Rites Research Society, Vol. 1, No. 2, at the following web site: http://www.srmason-sj.org/web/heredom-files/volume1/thomas-g-moses.htm On the Woodfin street elevation, the brick wall is relieved by a large and graceful three-story blind thermal window. In April of 1919 the Masonic Temple Board bought the lot and the boarding house, known as "The Ozarks" next to the Temple for a price reported to be $15,250. The boarding house was soon removed to another location and the added lot became the current parking area next to the Temple. |
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| Freemasonry - Asheville and Western North Carolina Nov 20, 2009 ... Particular emphasis is on the Masonic Temple in Asheville, N.C. ... Asheville's Masonic Temple is the home of the Blue Lodge, ... | ||||||
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R. Henry Scadin Collection Freemasons, Grand Lodge of North Carolina Scadin, R. Henry, 1819-1921. Photographers -- Appalachian Region, Southern -- Biography ... Macoy's Masonic Manual. |
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W.B. Gwyn Collection, [M02.7.1.1-2] - Ledgers of legal correspondence from 1891-1894 involving various prominent Asheville figures, many of whom were freemasons. Traces many of the land and real estate negotiations during the "exuberance" of the turn of the century. |
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| Edgar M. Lyda Collection - Correspondence with freemasons in area as well as information on the Masonic Lodge in the 1930's. He was member of the Masonic Order, Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of Pythias, the Civic-Optimist Club and a member of the Board of Directors of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce. | ||||||
George W. Pack Home
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[PDF]
The University of North Carolina at Asheville “…For whose
sake ... File
Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat -
Quick View by B Andrews - 2004 - Related articles Knight Templars and the present day Freemasons. Using the primary sources in a very convoluted way, the theories sound very convincing and interesting at ... |
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| Scottish Rite Cathedral The Mount Hermon Masonic Lodge of Asheville, first formed in 1848. The lodge had no formal meeting place for more than 50 years until 1909, ... | ||||||
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Masonic Grand Lodge - Masonic Temple, [African American] 44 Market Street, [YMI building] Asheville, NC. Remarks: Grand Lodge. Subjects: Masons. Photographer: unknown. Studio: unknown ...
"Grand Traveling Deputy, his Cabinet and Grand Chieftains Asheville Lodge 367" (written in white on original copy) number "1" below E. W. Pearson; number "2" below Dr. Frank Evans |
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For additional information on the Prince Hall Masonry movement, see:Prince Hall, the Pioneer of Negro Masonry. Proofs of the Legitimacy of Prince Hall Masonry: Electronic Edition. Bruce, John Edward, 1856-1924. Documenting the American South, UNC CH. John Edward Bruce, 1856-1924. Prince Hall, the Pioneer of Negro ... |
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Biltmore Industries
Collection - Fred Seely and Masons
Masonic-
[Fred] Seely's various memberships. A.H. Lankford - Supt. of Widows and
Orphans Home 'Masonic'
1899-1908. 2 Files
Masonic- memberships and ... Includes Fred Seely's Masonic
apron ; Correspondence Masonic File -
interesting 1913-1924
and 1901-1911 and 1924 ;
A.H. Lankford -
Supt. of Widows and Orphans Home 'Masonic' 1899-1908 |
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| Ferguson Collection (Murphy, NC) unaccessioned. | ||||||
| Reuben B. Robertson Collection 1960 - 12 items: Speeches to Masons at Pasadena; Boy Scouts; Asheville School Alumni Magazine; article on Alcoholism. 2. 1961 - 7 items: Clippings, ... | ||||||
| Ada and Lou Pollock Collection In the words of his Masonic Brother and friend Thomas J. Harkins: "He was held in regard and esteem in the Asheville community. An expression of this, ... | ||||||
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[PDF]
SIDNEY SCHOCHET April 10, 1994 Interviewed by David
Schulman I: I ...
PDF/Adobe Acrobat -
Quick View He was very prominent in the Masonic order. In fact, I guess they still have a picture of him in the Masonic temple down on Broadway. ... |
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James William Pless, Sr. He was buried with
Masonic rites in
Oak Grove Cemetery at Marion, North Carolina |
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| Charlotte Young Collection 1920-1923 - Principal of High School of the Masonic Orphanage in Oxford, NC. 1924-1925 - Chestnut Grove, near Weaverville, NC ... | ||||||
| [PDF] DOROTHY GASTON Interviewed August 7, 1975 by Dr. Louis D. Sil ver ... Regarding Perry Gaston - Knight Templar in the Masonic Lodge and on two occasions took a trip to California and Utah on business connected with this order. Perry Gaston died May 5, ... | ||||||
| Howard L. Setzer He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, and along with his wife held many positions at the local, regional and state levels in the Eastern Star Organization. ... | ||||||
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Souvenir of Asheville or the Sky Land 1892 "...It has an electric street railway traversing all parts of the city ; It has a good system of water works, giving an ample supply of pure water ; It has a new Government Post-Office in course of construction and a new City Hall ; It has flourishing Masonic, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Knights of Honor, Sons of Temperance lodges, besides several labor organizations ; It had an ice factory, cigar factory, numerous wood working factories, tobacco factories, flour mills, broom factory, etc. ..." |
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For information on the pageantry of Freemasonry see:
Kilde, Jeanne Halgren. Theatre of the Fraternity: Staging the Ritual Space of The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry 1896-1929, at the Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn., 5 Oct. 1996-5 Jan. 1997; Kent State University Museum, Kent, Ohio, 5 Feb.-15 June 1997; Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Mass., 27 July 1997-1 Feb. 1998; California State University, Long Beach, Calif., 10 Mar.-26 Apr. 1998; Plains Art Museum, Fargo, N. D., 4 June-6 Sept., 1998. C. Lance Brockman, Curator. Catalogue conceived and curated by C. Lance Brockman; contributions by Kenneth L. Ames, William D. Moore, Mary Ann Clawson, Mark C. Carnes, C. Lance Brockman, and Lawrence J. Hill. Minneapolis, Minn.: Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum; Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 1996. |
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| Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood : Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1996) | ||||||
| Mark C. Carnes, Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America (New Haven, Conn., 1989 | ||||||
| Mary Ann Clawson, Constructing Brotherhood: Class, Gender, and Fraternalism (Princeton, N.J., 1989 | ||||||
| James Stevens Curl, The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry: An Introductory Study .Woodstock, N.Y., 1993 | ||||||
| Deism, Masonry, and the Enlightenment: Essays Honoring Alfred Owen Aldridge, ed. J. A. Leo Lemay (Newark, Del., 1987) | ||||||
| Lynn Dumenil, Freemasonry and American Culture, 1880-1930 (Princeton, N. J., 1984) | ||||||
| Exhibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display, ed. Ivan Karp and Steven D. Lavine, (Washington, D.C., 1991 | ||||||
| Margaret C. Jacob, Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-century Europe (New York, 1991) | ||||||
| Peter G. Stone and Brian L. Molyneaux, eds., The Presented Past: Heritage, Museums and Education (New York, 1994 | ||||||
| Harry William Pedicord, "Masonic Theatre Pieces in London 1730-1780" Theatre Survey 25 (Nov. 1984): 153-66 | ||||||
| Loretta J. Williams, Black Freemasonry and Middle Class Pillarization (Columbia, Mo., 1980) | ||||||
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