Off to Erie and Ouellette today for a visit to the 1922 Masonic Temple, designed by Windsor architect J.C. Pennington. The building is a desdignated historic site in the City of Windsor.
A big thank you is owed to regular reader Kevin who was gracious enough to open the Temple up for us to visit and share with the readers of International Metropolis.
A view of the marble lined vestibule.
A view of the lobby area of the temple.
The famous ballroom, this romm has seen many events over the years, everything from weddings and dances to rock shows, including infamous Detroit rockers the MC5 in 1971.
A detail shot of the beautiful plasterwork in the ballroom.
Amazingly the kitchen still sports the orignal 1920’s era stove.
The lounge for the blue room.
A view of the large blue meeting room.
A panoramic view of the meeting room from the balcony.
A view of the seats and cast iron sides.
A bronze tablet dedicated to local masons lost in WWI.
The red room lounge. The Windsor Masons, have done a superb job in here creating a small museum of local masonic memrobilia.
A view of the smaller red meeting room.
A detail shot of the decorative plaster ceiling brackets.
A view of the large chandeliers and ventilation grate.
Even the hallways sport vintage fire alarms.
Next time the Temple is on the Doors Open tour, get down there and check out this under appreciated local architectural treasure.
What a great peice of history, it’s nice to see something survive the wrecking ball. It’s a beautiful building, and I was surprised to see the old Stove still there!
What was the original purpose for the building does anyone know?
Great shots! I always wondered what it looked like from the inside. Will you ever be doing one of the temple across from Cass Park?
Ross – it was built as a Masonic Temple.
David – Maybe one day, I would love to take the tour of the Detroit one. The Detroit Masonic Temple is the largest one in the world.
Kudo’s to your host for opening the doors for us loyal IM readers. This is a world that most of us have only read about.
Great shots as usual Andrew. I am glad to see that the Masons never re-did this building to modernize it.
Take a tour of the Detroit one soon….my dad is a Windsor Mason and tells me there are plans to close the Detroit Lodge soon.
Thanks for doing justice to our building Andrew. Check out our website for further information on Freemasonry in Windsor.
Thanks again Kevin for the tour, and for the information.
Any body go to the “teen” dances way back in the mid eighties? Wow! Thanks for bringing back some good memories.
In 1990 or so two teen girls at my highschool booked and promoted Sloan to play the ballroom. Was impressed at their pre-adult savvy.
Everything in the kitchen still works. I prepared many a meal in there.
Awesome photo tour of a great building….I have the awesome privelage of being a member there and feel honoured everytime I entre the building….I also got married int he Blue Room….what an added bonous!
I have also heard the Detroit Temple Board is suffering financially…..it’s too bad as the Detroit temple is an amazing piece of architechture!!!!
I have been a member of the Windsor Masonic fraternity and Temple since 1980 and have had the honour of serving the Windsor District as their District Deputy Grand Master as recent as last year. Let me tell you there is a lot of history in this building. For instance Prime Minister John Diefenbaker recieved the hightest degrees (33rd) in Masonry in this building several years back. Ross was asking what the building was originally built for. It was built back in 1921 as a Masonic Temple to serve the Masons of the Windsor area and has served this District for some 87 plus years as a Masonic Temple. The building has received heritage status.
Don – Thanks for the comment, and thanks to all the Windsor area Masons for doing such a great job of preserving this important local heritage structure.
It sure is a beauty!
Great to see the building again. I went to many a teen dance there during the early 50’s
This building has a special place in my heart. My husband and I were married in the blue room, and we had our reception in the ballroom. When we were trying to decide on a venue, we went on a tour here and I instantly fell in love with the place. It’s a beautiful building; it has so much character. Thank you for featuring it on your blog, (which is also great by the way!)
I really love the shots you took! I love this building, my husband and I were also married here, in the ballroom where we had our reception. I too love the character of this gorgeous place. As other readers have noted, your photos really do it justice. Thank you.
I had no idea that they had a meeting room like that in there. What a great find. Could be a good set for our local film industry and a chance for the Masonic to raise some funds. It would be a good rental for local organizations.
I went to one or two mid 80’s dances there too!
I thought somebody would have mentioned the Saturday night dances, always drew large crowds.
This was Big Band music in the fabulose fifties, you danced with your partner. In the summer they moved to the granstand in Jackson Park, long gone, burned down.
All ways seemed to be lots of student nurses from Hotel Deiu, with the early curfew.
I worked next door at HMCS Hunter for years and never realized how beautiful the building next door was and how the original interior was kept all this time. If I get home soon, would love to go see it when it is open. Thanks for the amazing photos.