Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 109, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 May 1911 — A BIG MASONIC TEMPLE [ARTICLE]

A BIG MASONIC TEMPLE

Magnificent Structure to Be Built in Chicago. Work on Great Bujldlng r to Cost |405,000, to Begin May- I—Auditorium,1 —Auditorium, to Have Seating Capacity of 4,500. Chicago.—More beautiful than any Masonic temple In the country, or in the world, for that matter, will be the building that the Shrlners of Medlnah Temple will dedicate to the uses of the craft In Chicago at Ohio, Cass and Ontario, streets, it is declared. Plans for the structure already are well .under way. Building operations will begin by the first of May. Early in April, 1912, the dedication will take place. When completed the building will represent an outlay of $405,000, which is more money than the far-famed New theater of New York cost its millionaire founders. Of'course, in the case of the Medlnah temple, the cost of the land was a comparatively small item compared with the extensive New theater property that borders on Central Park West in New York. The Lambert Tree property, on which the new Medlnah Temple is to

stand, runs 105 feet on Ohio, 218 on Cass and 150 feet on Ontario, situated directly behind the Studio building, which fronts on State street. Messrs. Huehl and'Schmidt-are the architects for the new building, and Mr. Huehl, with a large staff of assistants, is personally at work on the drawings. The first floor, underneath the auditorium, will be occupied by the banqueting rooms. The auditorium proper will be in the form of a great theater, seating over 4,500 people, a capacity as large as the Auditorium theater before the recent alterations. There will be three tiers, the first floor seating 1,280, the balcony will have .a capacity of 1,672, and the gallery will bold 1,580 persons. Then there will be numerous boxes besides. L. There will be large parlors, candidates’ rooms, rooms for the caretaker, for the Arab patrol and for the bands, in the two wings on each side of the stage. A magnificent new organ is to be a part of the equipment While it has been definitely settled that the style of architecture shall be Turkish, it has not been finally determined of what material the building shall be constructed. Mr. Huehl said he hoped to be able to use terracotta and brick. In Turkey, however, they use for their elaborate effects a red freestone which they can cut almost like butter, and so get the most ornate decorative results with little cost There, too, the climate Is not quite as strenuous as it Is here, and the flight of time does not leave upon buildings such perceptible damage. Another important consideration is the fact that to get the same decorative effect with terracotta the expense in this count try would be enormous. 1 would be more like engraving than sculpture work,** said Mr. Huehl, “and the mpn who do this work charge seven dollars a day.** Arrangements have been almost completed for the sale of the present temple to Oriental Consistory when the Shrlners of Medinah temple move Into their new home. Members of Medinah temple bewail the fact that they have to leave their present building, which has always been very much admired. The move was a necessity, however, since they have quite outgrown their present quarters, and It is barely posslble to get their members into the build ing, much less Into the auditorium, special occasion. There are 9,000 members of Medinah temple living today. They are scattered all over the world, but 6,000 of them live In Cook county, and their present hall holds barely 1,100 persons. —— ' Every man’s business, whatever it is, becomes a liberal education to him, just as soon and just as far as he Uvea, not In tte methods, but tn its princk I pies.—Phillips Brook*. .