A 1927 classical revival with grand masonic home for historic Lodge of Friendship on North Terrace, Adelaide city
Main architect for the Adelaide Masonic Centre was John Quinton Bruce, whose other work included Stalheim/Carclew, Woodville Institute and Electra House.
Image courtesy City of Adelaide.
The classical revival Adelaide Masonic Centre building on North Terrace, Adelaide city, is historically significant as the home of the Lodge of Friendship, consecrated at the South Australian Association headquarters in London in 1834, almost two years before colonisation.
Its early members included several notable citizens such as George Strickland Kingston, Robert Gouger and John Morphett. At first, South Australian freemasons met in various city buildings. In 1869, permanent offices and a masonic hall were established on Flinders Street, Adelaide city, but these were outgrown by 1913.
In 1921, the grand secretary, Charles Glover (later Adelaide’s first lord mayor) went overseas to find architectural inspiration for a new building. The site for the new building on North Terrace was bought a year later. The building designs by architects John Quinton Bruce (whose other work included Stalheim/Carclew, Woodville Institute and Electra House) and freemason William H. Harral were accepted in 1923.
The design moved away with the traditional style of British freemasons towards an American new-world style but combined the three ancient orders of architecture — Doric, Ionic and Corinthian – according to masonic tradition. Due to costs, reinforced concrete replaced the originally specified stone and granite but the intended imposing scale of the building wasn’t compromised.
Opened in 1927, the Grand Lodge's six levels, including the basement, housed administrative offices, reading and billiard rooms, a ballroom, banquet room, lodge rooms, and 24 rooms for visiting members, the Adelaide Masonic Centre Museum and the Masonic Library. The largest lodge room, the Way Room, named for the first grand master and chief justice Samuel Way, was on the fourth floor, seated 600 and had a large pipe organ. The Great Hall, at the rear of the building, was used for Grand Lodge functions and for public events. The total cost of the land, buildings and furnishings was £116,318/11/6.
The masonic centre was heritage listed in 1984. In 2008, the decision was taken to allow the hall at the rear of the Grand Lodge to be demolished to make way for a multi-storey tower
