Masonic Temple Building | |
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| Location | 119—137 N. Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, Illinois |
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| Coordinates | 41°53′17″N87°47′41″W / 41.88806°N 87.79472°W Coordinates: 41°53′17″N87°47′41″W / 41.88806°N 87.79472°W |
| Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
| Built | 1906–1909 |
| Architect | Eben Ezra Roberts |
| Architectural style | Prairie School |
| NRHP reference # | 82002532 [1] [2] |
| Added to NRHP | February 11, 1982 |
The Masonic Temple Building (also known as the Scoville Block, Gilmore's Store, and Scoville Square Building) is a historic Prairie-style building in Oak Park, Illinois, at the corner of Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street. It is in the Ridgeland-Oak Park Historic District and was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. [1] [2] [3]
Oak Park is a village adjacent to the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the 29th largest municipality in Illinois as measured by population in the 2010 U.S. census. As of the 2010 United States Census the village had a population of 51,878.
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
The building is one of only a few commercial buildings built in the Prairie School architectural style. [4] The three-story building was built for C. B. Scoville to a design by E. E. Roberts and was constructed between 1906 and 1909. The first floor was designed for retail use, with iron and glass storefronts. A course of limestone separates the storefronts from the upper stories, which are faced with brick. [3] A fourth story was added in 1914. [3] Architectural details in the interior include an oak staircase and a lobby with leaded art-glass windows and marble wainscoting. [4]
Eben Ezra Roberts (1866–1943) was an American architect known for his work in the early modern Prairie style, pioneered by Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as other traditional residential styles. Roberts was born in Boston and attended architectural school in New Hampshire. After moving to Chicago he eventually established a practice in the suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. In Oak Park alone, Roberts designed over 200 houses.
A storefront or shopfront is the facade or entryway of a retail store located on the ground floor or street level of a commercial building, typically including one or more display windows. A storefront functions to attract visual attention to a business and its merchandise.
A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, reception or an entrance hall, it often is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium. It is a repose area for spectators and place of venues, especially used before performance and during intermissions but also as a place of celebrations or festivities after performance.
Oak Park's Masonic lodges were among the building's first tenants. [4] After the Masons vacated the premises, the building was sold to Gilmore's Department Store. The department store used the building from 1930 until it closed in the 1970s. [3] [4] [5] After Gilmore's department store closed, the village of Oak Park bought the building to save it from demolition and contributed public money toward its restoration and renovation. Restoration work including removal of a black glass facade that Gilmore's had applied to the building. [3] [5] The building is now known as the Scoville Square building and houses retail business on the ground floor and offices on its upper floors. [4] [5]
A Masonic lodge, often termed a private lodge or constituent lodge, is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also commonly used as a term for a building in which such a unit meets. Every new lodge must be warranted or chartered by a Grand Lodge, but is subject to its direction only in enforcing the published constitution of the jurisdiction. By exception the three surviving lodges that formed the world's first known grand lodge in London have the unique privilege to operate as time immemorial, i.e., without such warrant; only one other lodge operates without a warrant – the Grand Stewards' Lodge in London, although it is not also entitled to the "time immemorial" title. A Freemason is generally entitled to visit any lodge in any jurisdiction in amity with his own. In some jurisdictions this privilege is restricted to Master Masons. He is first usually required to check, and certify, the regularity of the relationship of the Lodge – and be able to satisfy that Lodge of his regularity of membership. Freemasons gather together as a Lodge to work the three basic Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason.
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different product categories known as "departments". In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appearance in the middle of the 19th century, and permanently reshaped shopping habits, and the definition of service and luxury. Similar developments were under way in London, in Paris and in New York.
