Tours of the Portland Masonic Temple

The Masonic Temple in Portland, Maine has been put up for sale. As a Past Master of Triangle Lodge No. 1, housed in this beautiful temple, I too am sad to see this day come. Unfortunately, the building is simply too expensive for our lowered membership numbers to maintain. The building is owned by the Masonic Trustees of Portland and its head, also the current Master of Triangle Lodge, loves the building perhaps more than anyone else in the State of Maine. He has arranged for an open house on Saturday, December 13th. The facility will be opened to the public from 10am to 2pm with tours of all of its historic halls. At some future day all of this grandeur will be lost to history, so take this opportunity to see what is inside this mysterious and beautiful building. Here is a preview: commercial.

Saving a Masonic Temple

I was elected last night as a member of the Board of Trustees responsible for the Masonic Temple in Portland. We are in a similar situation to many Grand Lodges with old Masonic buildings in the city core: high expenses (heat, electricity, parking, etc), plenty of internal and external maintenance to be done, and restricted income (primarily rent). I would love to hear suggestions for how other such groups have recovered from a similar situation? I would hate to see the work of great men like Augustus Schlotterbeck lost as office space or condos. What we have in Portland is a real turn of the century jewel and it is our task to ensure this jewel is available for future generations of Freemasons.