Scottish Rite Temple, Masonic temple in Mobile, United States.
The Scottish Rite Temple, now The Temple Downtown, is a former Masonic building in Mobile, Alabama, designed by George Bigelow Rogers. Its east and north facades take the form of battered Egyptian pylons joined by a lower central gateway, with two sphinxes by sculptor Allen W. Barr flanking the east entrance. Two obelisks on the roof originally served as chimneys.
The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry built the temple as its meeting place; architect George Bigelow Rogers designed it, the cornerstone was laid on November 30, 1921, and the building was completed in 1922. It joined the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1984. Sold to a private citizen in 1996, it reopened as a banqueting venue.
The building was sold in 1996 to a private citizen and reopened as a banqueting venue, so it is no longer an active Masonic meeting place. Its Egyptian Revival facades, the only intact example of the style in Mobile, are what visitors come to see today.
The building stands at the corner of downtown Mobile, its battered east and north facades facing the street; the plain south and rear walls abut the neighbouring property, so the sphinxes and obelisks are best seen from the east and north sides. It is a private banqueting venue, not an active Masonic lodge, so entry is only possible during booked events.
The facades feature massively constructed towers shaped like Egyptian pylons, inspired by the Bab el'Adb Gate at Karnak Temple in Egypt. This unusual interpretation of Egyptian architecture shows how Masonic organizations in the 1920s integrated historical symbols into their own buildings.
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