Highland Park Masonic Temple, Masonic temple in Highland Park, Los Angeles, California

The Highland Park Masonic Temple is a three-story brick building at Figueroa Street and Avenue 56, completed in 1923 to designs by Elmore Robinson Jeffrey in Renaissance Revival style with Mediterranean Revival detailing. Its Figueroa facade has columns and a balcony at the eastern edge of the former Banquet Hall, and a frieze of Masonic symbols runs along the roofline. The 25,000-square-foot interior holds a restored second-floor Lodge Room with an 18-foot ceiling, cherry wood paneling, embossed anaglypta wall covering and Egyptian-themed paintings.

Built in 1923, the building served as the meeting place for Lodge 382 of the Free and Accepted Masons for about 60 years. Seismic safety concerns eventually led the organization to relocate from the space.

The second-floor Lodge Room keeps its 1923 cherry wood paneling, embossed cotton anaglypta wall covering and paintings of Egyptian scenes with a sphinx and pyramid at both ends of the hall. A frieze of Masonic symbols runs along the exterior roofline on Figueroa Street and Avenue 56, and doorknobs embossed with Masonic symbols survive from the original fittings.

The building stands on Figueroa Street at Avenue 56, with the main Figueroa facade marked by columns and a second-floor balcony. The two large second-floor rooms are rented to the public for wedding receptions, anniversaries and quinceañeras, so interior access depends on bookings; the Lodge Room also serves as a 500-capacity music venue with an attached bar and restaurant.

A third-story arched balcony once connected the Lodge Room and Banquet Hall, but a hallway between them kept Masonic proceedings from being overheard during meetings. The balcony was removed when the third floor became offices.