Chicago Masonic Temple 

Sterling Silver Spoons

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The Chicago Masonic Temple at the turn of the 20th century was one of the tallest buildings in the world and had one of the finest Masonic Gift Shops as well.  They commissioned a wide variety of styles and designs.   The above spoon pictures a Crusading Knight on the handle and a picture of their Temple in the bowl.  It measures 4 1/8th inches long and is hallmarked with a four leaf clover within a circle on the back.  To see glass and china souvenir items from the Chicago Masonic Temple (click here).

Daniel Burnham, Chicago Architect. (1864-1912) Director of Works for the Columbian Exposition of 1893, Architect of the Chicago Masonic Temple, which was, in 1891, at 22 stories, the tallest skyscraper in the world.
 

The Masonic Temple  Height: 302 feet (92 meters) to roof. Original owners: Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Illinois. Constructed: 1891-1892. Arguably the birthplace of the skyscraper, Chicago has held the title of tallest building twice in skyscraper history. In 1892, the Masonic Temple rose twenty-two stories at the corner of Randolph and State Streets. With its high pitched gables and flat-topped roof leveling off at 302 feet, the structure was shorter than New York's World Building with its lantern, but boasted the highest occupied floor.  Designed by Burnham and Root, Chicago's most prominent commercial architects, it featured a central court ringed by nine floors of shops with offices above and meeting rooms for the Masons at the very top.

 

The Masonic Temple employed a rigid steel frame with wrought iron wind-bracing placed diagonally between the structural members above the 10th floor. As light was a prime concern, large windows were installed from top to bottom, clearly illustrating the practicality of a steel-framed building. It was described as "perhaps the frankest admission of a structural and economic necessity ever expressed in architectural form."

 

Due to height regulations enacted in 1892, The Masonic Temple remained Chicago's tallest building until the 1920's when the city's new zoning laws permitted towers. In 1939, The Masonic Temple was demolished, in part due to its poor internal services, but also due to the construction of the new State Street subway, which would have necessitated expensive foundation retrofitting. In 1939, its offices and stores considered old fashioned, The Masonic Temple was demolished.

 
"Fronts 170 feet on State and 114 feet on Randolph Street, at the northeast corner. This building occupies the place of honor in our chapter on "Notable High Building," and is there fully described. Its 21 stories carry it to a height of 302 feet. There are 10 stores, 543 offices, many lodge-rooms, and a public observatory. The exterior walls are heavy, of granite and yellow pressed brick. The rotunda on the main floor is open to the skylight at the top, and is nearly surrounded by 14 passenger and 2 freight elevators. In the basement and under the street are 2 Corliss engines, each of 500 horse-power; 8 steel boilers, 6 dynamos, and 8 large pumps. The electric apparatus weighs 60 tons, and includes 53 miles of wire. It is not possible to classify the tenants of a building which is a city in itself; and again, the edifice has not yet developed it characteristics. The upper floors are fitted for Masonic lodges, chapters, asylums, and councils. The first ten floors are expected to accommodate merchants. Professional men already favor the office floors. The observatory offers a very high point of view, to be obtained for a small fee and without climbing. This wonderful edifice was erected in 1890-92, at a cost of $3,500,000."
 

 

 

              

               

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