Toronto Masonic Temple

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Original purpose: Temple
Current purpose: TV studio
Affiliation: Masonic
Open to public: No

Toronto Masonic Temple at 888 Yonge St. is one of the most mysterious buildings in Toronto and one of the few surviving examples of Masonic architecture. It is now occupied by MTV Canada, but until very recently it was home to many prominent Masonic lodges. Unfortunately, due to decline in membership and financial difficulties that many lodges experienced at the end of the past century, the building changed hands a couple of time until purchased by CTV, which decided to let MTV completely take over the building in 2005, when it also was re-dedicated with the help of Grand Lodge of Canada. Since then, the temple was completely renovated and brought up to modern building codes. But the mysteries still remain, such as whether MTV’s logo on the front is coincidentally articulates the letter “M”…

Here is a very detailed article about the history of the building…

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Venetian Loggia, Heraklion, Greece

Location: Greece: Crete: Heraklion: Fountain Square,
Original purpose: gathering place
Affiliation: Masonic (?)
Current purpose: city administration
Open to public: lower level only

A beautiful building sits in the fountain square of Heraklion, main city of the island of Crete in Greece. It is called the Venetian Loggia. All tourist guides describe it as a place where Venetian aristocrats used to gather to discuss daily affairs. The building has two levels: the lower one is in Doric style and the upper one is in Ionic. The border between the levels displays collection of various symbols, and the roof is adorned with obelisks on each corner. We have not uncovered any distinctive reasons for this, so we are inclined to speculate that this at some point was a Masonic lodge (or Loggia).Lower level atrium.

Location on Googel Maps.


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George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, Virginia

The most exquisite Masonic memorial of its kind sits atop Shuters hill in Alexandria Virginia overlooking the U.S. Capital. The monument is dedicated to the first president of the United States and the most prominent American freemason George Washington.

Besides the imposing building it is also a museum and a working Masonic temple. As a museum, it contains a large number of Washington memorabilia, including his apron, his clock, which was stopped at the time of his death, his pocket knife, etc. The museum also houses a number of halls dedicated to Washington’s contribution to as a freemason and the masonry itself. Some of the more impressive exhibits are the rooms dedicated to many Masonic appendant bodies, such as Royal Arch, Shrine, Knights Templar, Grotto and even Tall Cedars. Being also a working temple, the building contains a number of lodge rooms regularly used by local lodges.

The building is a must to visit for all masons American and otherwise. More information on Memorial’s site or Wikipedia.

One of the working lodge rooms.

Knights Templar exhibit, appropriate tuck away in the chapel at the top level of the tower.

Murals in the Royal Arch hall.

The sacred ark of the covenant in the Royal Arch room.

Bronze statue to the man himself

Absolutely gorgeous grounds (view from the top level of the memorial).