Square and compasses smashed during removal from 'offended' church

The square and compasses lies in pieces, smashed to the ground while being removed from the Masonic temple building in Elgin, Illinois, now owned by a church group.

Officials of the fundamentalist Christian Family Life Church threatened the Elgin City Council with a lawsuit if they weren't allowed to remove Masonic emblems from the historic building, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The square and compasses enclosing the letter G, along with the original cornerstone which contained Masonic symbols and wording, was considered "offensive" by church officials. Read the "statement of faith" of church founders and "prophetic apostolic overseers" Robert and Stacy Whitt.

The broken terra cotta S&C along with the now-removed cornerstone which reads "Laid By the Masonic Fraternity June 9 A.D. 1923=A.L. 5923" will be housed in the Elgin Area Historical Museum.

Speaking of the removal, Betty Coture, a member of the Elgin Heritage Commission, said, "I didn't really think they would do it. It is too bad that a church that came here and wants to do good things destroys our beautiful building."

A small time capsule in a copper box was found under the cornerstone. It has been given to Elgin Lodge No. 117, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Previous stories on the Taper regarding this subject can be found here and here.

Image: The Masonic emblems on the building before their removal and near-destruction.

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Update: Illinois church to remove Masonic emblems from historical landmark

In October we reported on a fundamentalist church in Elgin, Illinois that had petitioned their city council to allow them to remove Masonic emblems from their building, a former Masonic temple now held to be an historical landmark.

On October 10, the Elgin City Council voted 5-2 to allow Family Life Church to remove the emblems.

Council members Mike Powers and John Steffen voted against overturning the heritage commission's ruling.

"I view this building as a landmark, architectural landmark for the city," Powers said. "I think that changing the facade would be a serious mistake."

"It's fundamentally part of the building," Steffen added. "[The compass and square] is the focal point of the front of the building."

City resident Jennifer Shroder, a local Christian and granddaughter of a Freemason, spoke up about her opposition to the decision in a letter to the editor of the Daily Herald on October 17: "It is this kind of prejudice that mars most of the history of Christianity.... As Christians, shouldn't we encourage tolerance, not try to erase all evidence of it from a prominent building?"

Masons | Masonic Architecture | Fundamentalist Christians | Freemasonry | Elgin, Illinois | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Graffiti and Masonic calipers

An "old and ugly" ashlar has finally been smoothed.

The four-star Renaissance Providence Hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, opened in May in a never-completed Masonic building whose cornerstone was laid in 1926.

After two years of construction, the Masons abandoned the unfinished building when they ran out of money. (Five years later, during the height of the Great Depression,
Bro. Fredrick I. Dana, the treasurer for the Scottish Rite Trust of Rhode Island, the group who was paying for construction, was sent to prison for embezzlement.)

The uncompleted building sat idle until 2004, when hotel developer Sage Hospitality of Denver started work on the property.

In 1926, the estimated cost to complete the opulent, monumental building as a Masonic center was $2.5 million. Completing it as a luxury hotel in 2007 ran the bill up to $100,000,000.00 (one hundred million dollars). Typical rates for one of its 272 rooms are between $199 and $319 a night. Parking is additional, at $25 per day.

Two artistic themes were used, in various combinations, in the interior of the hotel. Since the building had spent its life "on the streets," so to speak, it was covered with three-quarters of a century's worth of graffiti. The hotel developers chose to carry on this theme by decorating many of the guestrooms and the hotel's restaurant with graffiti, some of it done by local street graffiti "artists" who a few years earlier had practiced their art on the unfinished Masonic building.

Blended with the graffiti are neo-Masonic symbols, including what is being called Masonic "calipers." An eye in a triangle, which they call "the all-knowing eye," is visible in the staircase banister leading to the hotel's restaurant, which is called "The Temple Downtown."

Links:
Official hotel site
Article from The Providence Journal
Article from The Boston Globe
Flash slideshow of exterior sketches
Photo slideshow of interiors
Fun facts about the building

Masons | Masonic Building | Renaissance Providence Hotel | Freemasonry | Rhode Island | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com

Wisconsin Masonic temple being renovated as community outreach center

The story of a restoration project of a formerly luxurious Masonic lodge building in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin not only gives us a glimpse into the past physically, but also acts as a metaphor for what happened to our Fraternity in the mid-20th century.

Like Freemasonry of old, this temple was once abundantly opulent. It was once "duly and truly prepared." Then,

During the 1960s, the arched store windows on the first floor were replaced with single panes astride a standard commercial door. Side windows were filled in, ceilings were lowered and any vestige of age was either removed or concealed.

It was just after World War II that Freemasonry saw an upswing in membership, when being part of a "club" became popular. Many Masonic writers point to this time period as being when the West Gates were flung open to the masses who paid little heed to the meanings of Masonry. Not only were ceilings lowered, but so were standards.

Fortunately some bits of history remain. Eight foot high doors lean against the walls, along with a few of the original windows. Original wallpaper clings to the walls, harking back to the days when Greek columns and statues of females goddesses were a popular decorating theme. On the 14-foot high ceilings, elaborate borders and ceiling papers show how opulent the rooms must have been when kerosene chandeliers and huge wood stoves provided winter warmth.

The third phase will be the top floor, which holds the structure's greatest treasure. There, wall murals adorn each of the walls, depicting the moving sun and golden stars overhead. The scenes which cover much of the walls and ceilings are rich in Masonic symbolism. Tall doors have small panels which were raised for the ritual admission into the group's private chamber....

Like Freemasonry itself, parts of the building have been vandalized.

Portions of the murals have been damaged by vandals, with certain symbols painted over by the Masons when they made their move. The mural symbols that remain include golden crosses on the ceiling, an image of a master mason welcoming his brothers, and mountains and forests that show the glory of nature — and of God.

Salim Mohammad has purchased the temple, built in the 1860s and abandoned as a lodge in 1911, and may spend up to a million dollars renovating it. He plans to rent out space to non-profit community-oriented agencies. One of the groups who will be in the building is the Teen Center, an outreach of High Expectations, a civic group that has taken on the task of providing activities and support for young people aged pre-teen to 21.

We wish Mr. Mohammad well in his restoration of this noble landmark. Let it be a symbol of our own personal and Masonic restorations.

Masons | Masonic Restoration | Small Town Freemasonry | Freemasonry | Wisconsin | Burning Taper | BurningTaper.com