Masonic Temple Building


Record height
Tallest in Chicago from 1895 to 1899^[I]
General information
Location	Chicago, United States
Coordinates	41°53′05.28″N 87°37′39.27″W / 41.8848000°N 87.6275750°W / 41.8848000; -87.6275750
Construction started	1891
Completed	1892
Demolished	1939
Height
Roof	302 ft (92 m)
Technical details
Floor count	21
References
^[1]

The Masonic Temple Building was a skyscraper built in Chicago, Illinois in 1892, and from 1895 to the 1920s the tallest building in Chicago.

History

Designed by the firm of Burnham and Root and built at the corner of Randolph and State Streets, the building rose 21 stories. When the clock tower was removed from the 1885 Board of Trade Building in 1895, the Masonic Temple became the tallest in the city. The building was owned by Oriental Lodge #33 which still meets to this day.

The building featured a central court ringed by nine floors of shops with offices above and meeting rooms for the Masons at the very top. These meeting rooms also served as theaters, which contributed to the building's obsolescence; its elevators proved inadequate for these crowds, and the building rapidly fell from favor with commercial tenants.

Chicago's building height regulations enacted in 1892 (the year the Temple was built), didn't allow taller buildings, until that was amended in the 1920s. In 1939 the Masonic Temple was demolished, in part due to its poor internal services, but also due to the construction of the new State Street subway, which would have necessitated expensive foundation retrofitting. Also, in 1926 the New Masonic Building had opened nearby. A two-story "taxpayer" housing a Walgreens drug store was erected in its place, and the Joffrey Tower currently stands on the former site of this building.

Both the building's primary designer, John Wellborn Root, and the Masons' primary representative, Norman Gassette, died of natural causes during its construction.

Gallery

About 1900: Stereoscopy as postcard No. 530 by Knackstedt & Näther [de] (Hamburg)
Masonic Temple, 1900
Masonic Temple with new Marshall Field and Company Building, 1911

References

External links

Chicago Landmark skyscrapers

Chicago Landmark skyscrapers
National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places, Chicago Landmark	The Arc at Old Colony Auditorium Building Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building Chicago Board of Trade Building Fisher Building Manhattan Building Marquette Building Marshall Field and Company Building Monadnock Building Reliance Building Rookery Building
National Register of Historic Places, Chicago Landmark	860–880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments Gage Group Buildings Mundelein College Skyscraper Building One North LaSalle Palmolive Building The Blackstone Hotel Roanoke Building and Tower
Chicago Landmark	330 North Wabash 333 North Michigan 35 East Wacker Allerton Hotel Brooks Building Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel Carbide & Carbon Building Chicago Building Civic Opera House Heyworth Building Inland Steel Building London Guarantee Building Mather Tower New York Life Insurance Building The Palmer House Hilton Powhatan Apartments Pittsfield Building Richard J. Daley Center Tribune Tower Virgin Hotels Chicago
See also	Washington Block

Chicago skyscrapers

Chicago skyscrapers
Tallest buildings	875 North Michigan Avenue (formerly John Hancock Center) Aon Center Franklin Center St. Regis Chicago Trump International Hotel and Tower Two Prudential Plaza Willis Tower
Selected buildings with 20 or more floors	35 East Wacker 55 East Erie 71 South Wacker 77 West Wacker 110 North Wacker 111 South Wacker 151 North Franklin 155 North Wacker 181 West Madison 311 South Wacker 330 North Wabash 333 North Michigan 333 South Wabash (formerly CNA Center) 333 Wacker Drive 340 on the Park 400 East Randolph 401 East Ontario 425 South Financial Place 541 North Fairbanks Court (formerly Time-Life Building) 540 West Madison 860-880 Lake Shore Drive 900 North Michigan 900 West Randolph 1700 East 56th Street Accenture Tower Aqua Bilandic Building The Blackstone Hotel BCBS Tower Boeing Building Builders Building Carbide & Carbon Building Chase Tower Chicago Board of Trade Building Chicago Place Chicago Temple Building City Hall Square Building Civic Opera House Coast at Lakeshore East Consumers Building Crain Communications Building Dirksen Federal Building Essex on the Park Field Building Fisher Building Grant Thornton Tower Harbor Point Hilton Chicago Home Insurance Building James R. Thompson Center Joffrey Tower Kluczynski Federal Building Lake Point Tower LaSalle–Wacker Building Legacy Tower Leo Burnett Building London Guarantee Building Lurie Children's Hospital Marina City Masonic Temple Mather Tower Metropolitan Tower Montauk Building NBC Tower NEMA Northwestern Memorial Hospital Olympia Centre One Bennett Park One Magnificent Mile One Museum Park One North LaSalle One North Wacker One Prudential Plaza Optima Signature Palmer House Hotel Palmolive Building Park Tower The Parkshore Peoples Gas Building Pittsfield Building Plaza 440 Powhatan Apartments Presidential Towers Regents Park Richard J. Daley Center River East Center Roanoke Building The Shoreham Skybridge Shirley Ryan AbilityLab The Buckingham The Fordham The Heritage The Grant The Pinnacle Three First National Plaza Tribune Tower Virgin Hotels Chicago Waldorf Astoria Chicago Warwick Allerton Water Tower Place Wolf Point East Tower Wrigley Building
Chicago Landmark skyscrapers with 12 or more floors	300 West Adams Building The Arc at Old Colony Auditorium Building Brooks Building Bryn Mawr Apartment Hotel Chicago Building Gage Group Buildings Heyworth Building Hilliard Towers Apartments Inland Steel Building Manhattan Building Marquette Building Marshall Field and Company Building Monadnock Building Mundelein College Skyscraper Building New York Life Insurance Building Reliance Building Rookery Building Sullivan Center
See also	Architecture Art Deco Chicago City Hall Chicago School Washington Block
Buildings in italics have been demolished.

Timeline of tallest buildings in Chicago

First Holy Name Cathedral (75 m) (1854)
Saint Michael's Church (88 m) (1869)
Chicago Board of Trade Building (98 m) (1885)
Masonic Temple Building (92 m) (1895)
Montgomery Ward Building (120 m) (1899)
Wrigley Building (134 m) (1922)
Chicago Temple Building (173 m) (1924)
Chicago Board of Trade Building (184 m) (1930)
Richard J. Daley Center (198 m) (1965)
John Hancock Center (344 m) (1969)
Aon Center (346 m) (1973)
Sears Tower/Willis Tower (442 m) (1974)

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links