General interior view.

Description General interior view.

Date 1911

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number SC 736813

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of BL 21378

Scope and Content Meeting Hall, Masonic Temple, No 85 Crown Street, Aberdeen Aberdeen's Masonic Temple was designed in 1909-10 by Harbourne MacLennan of the architectural firm, Jenkins & Marr, as a temple and meeting halls to serve the Masonic Lodges and other Orders of Freemasonry in the city. The architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, was commissioned to photograph the interior in 1911. The hall has a compartmented ceiling, supported by scrolled corbels, and a heavy Classical cornice. The walls are plain, with a wood-panelled dado, and a niche for a small organ (left). Three steps, representing the three stages of life (youth, manhood, old age) and the three degrees in masonry (apprentice, fellow, master-mason), lead to a raised platform lined with ceremonial chairs at the far end. The floor has a carpet with a pattern of alternate black and white squares, representing the mosaic pavement of Solomon's Temple and symbolising human life checked with good and evil. Modern Freemasonry first arose in England in the early 18th century although its origins can be traced back to the Middle Ages. Lodges (assemblies) were established throughout the country as social and convivial societies (although women were excluded) which had a graded structure, secret rituals and ceremonies, and organised group meetings for discussion on important social and national issues. In the early 20th century membership often conferred definite business and social advantages, particularly in small communities where the leading middle-class figures were generally members. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference Box 59

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/736813

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap