Click image to enlarge. Masonic Hall, the first building in Mobile to utilize steel-frame construction, was designed and built by Stone Brothers, a New Orleans architectural firm, for a mere fifty thousand dollars. The design details and ornamentation of the structure are reminiscent of the Chicago School of Architecture (1880-1910)--a group of Chicago architects who were known for major developments in skyscraper design and for experiments in modem architectural style for business and industrial settings. Among the best known was Louis Sullivan. Like many buildings of the Chicago School, the Masonic Hall employs terracotta, cast stone, and cast-iron ornamentation as decoration. A masonic symbol can even be found in the terracotta laurel wreath s on the building's main facade.
Constructed as a multipurpose facility, the building was designed to incorporate commercial enterprises on the first three floors, while the upper two floors--with their seventeen-foot-high ceilings and grand reception rooms--offered space for fraternal meetings and social functions. A rooftop garden, overlooking Bienville Square and the river, may well have been the site of the opening reception, which local legend holds was attended by President Teddy Roosevelt, a mason himself.
In 1997 the building's owner donated the property to the City of Mobile rather than sell it to developers interested in razing the structure and creating a parking
lot--a misfortune that has befallen many of Mobile's historic structures. Unquestionably, a rehabilitated Masonic Hall could be a jewel in the Lower Dauphin Street Commercial District. The Mobile Historic Development Commission has actively marketed the Masonic Hall as a Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Project, and city money is available through the Mobile Revolving
Fund. Meanwhile, however, advancing deterioration continues, hastened by the damage inflicted in 1998 by Hurricane Georges.
In 1997 the building's owner donated the property to the City of Mobile rather than sell it to developers interested in razing the structure and creating a parking
lot--a misfortune that has befallen many of Mobile's historic structures. Unquestionably, a rehabilitated Masonic Hall could be a jewel in the Lower Dauphin Street Commercial District. The Mobile Historic Development Commission has actively marketed the Masonic Hall as a Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Project, and city money is available through the Mobile Revolving
Fund. Meanwhile, however, advancing deterioration continues, hastened by the damage inflicted in 1998 by Hurricane Georges.
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