Detroit’s Masonic Temple is the world’s largest masonic temple.
14 stories tall with 1,037 rooms, 100 bathrooms, and some 12 million cubic feet of space!
The original 1922 Corner Stone Laying Ceremony of the Detroit Masonic Temple happened on September 18, 1922. The finished Temple was dedicated three years later on November 25, 1926.
The first shovel of dirt was turned on Thanksgiving Day 1920 and the Corner Stone was placed on September 18, 1922. George Washington’s own working tools were brought from Virginia to be used for the ceremony.
There are seven Craft Lodge Rooms – all having different decorative treatments, the motifs of decoration being taken from the Egyptian, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Italian Renaissance, Byzantine, Gothic and Romanesque. The rooms are all true to the period. All of the art work throughout the building, especially the beautifully decorated ceilings was done under the personal direction of famous Italian artists. There is also a Royal Arch room, and a Commandery Asylum.
The Cathedral has a seating capacity of 1600 and its fully equipped stage with a width of 64 feet from wall to wall and a depth of 37 feet from the foot lights. The Cathedral is a beauty spot of the Temple, made rich by carvings and color work which is most effectively carried out in the ceiling.
In the center portion of the Temple is located the auditorium or public portion of the structure. In this section of the building on the third floor mezzanine is the mammoth drill hall, comprising 17,500 square feet of open floor space. The drill hall is used by Detroit Commandery. As of 2006, the Drill Hall is also the home of the Detroit Derby Girls Roller Team. This drill hall is equipped with one of three floating floors in the United States; that is, the entire floor is laid on felt cushions. This type of construction provides more or less give to the floor which tends to relieve the marchers.
Immediately under the drill hall is the main theatre. The Detroit Masonic Theatre is one of the finest public halls in the United States, having a seating capacity of 4404. Because of its arrangement, there is a very intimate contact between the audience and stage. A great deal of careful study was given to the acoustical treatment of this room which has produced an auditorium where the hearing qualities are perfect from every seat. The stage of the auditorium is the second largest in the United States, having a width between walls of 100 feet and a depth from the curtain line of 55 feet.
What: 100th Anniversary of the Cornerstone Laying
When: Saturday, September 24, 2022
Where: Theatre inside the Masonic Temple (500 Temple St, Detroit, MI)
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Cost: $100.00
Buy tix
https://www.axs.com/events/427307/100th-anniversary-of-the-cornerstone-laying-tickets?skin=masonic
https://www.facebook.com/masonicdet
