General interior view.

Description General interior view.

Date 1911

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

Catalogue Number SC 736815

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of BL 21373

Scope and Content Entrance 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 is panelled to above door height, and has an elaborate chimneypiece with a mantelshelf supported by Ionic columns. Above are niches containing Classical figures representing (left to right) the Masonic virtues of Wisdom, Fidelity, Charity (with children) and Strength. The marble floor, with its chequerboard pattern of black and white square tiles, represents the mosaic pavement of King Solomon's Temple, and is inlaid with a magnificent centrepiece featuring the signs of the zodiac. The interiors of Masonic buildings are often embellished with Greek emblems and motifs, including the Ionic order of architecture which represents Wisdom. Masonic symbolism is highly complex and based on many different sources. It often suggests the early history and legends of Freemasonry which have their origins in the Biblical Old Testament, ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, astrology and the craft of masonry itself which dates from the Middle Ages. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference Box 59

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/736815

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap