Oak cliff masonic lodge top 11 facts
The Oak Cliff Masonic Lodge is a historic building in the North Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas. In 2014 the building was declared an official Texas Historical Marker by the Texas Historical Commission.
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Architect
The building was designed in 1919 by Herbert M. Greene, a prominent Dallas architect. Greene also designed Masonic temples and Scottish Rite Cathedrals in San Antonio, El Paso, Amarillo, Dallas and Joplin, Mo. One of the first architects in the South to be a member of the American Institute of Architects, Greene and his firms designed many of the significant buildings and homes in Dallas, including the Dallas National Bank building, the Belo Mansion and a number of buildings at the University of Texas at Austin. In all, he built more than 90 projects throughout Texas and other U.S. cities.
Layout
In addition to a full basement, the 10,000 square-foot building features two large “lodge rooms” on the second floor, including one measuring 37x60 feet with 20-foot ceilings. Each room also features a loft area (accessible by separate stairways) with small windows that look down over the rooms. These loft rooms serve as a storage area for the Masons.
History
In 1923, the three-story building became the largest Masonic Temple in Texas with 1,900 members. Members included Thomas Marsalis, the developer of Oak Cliff; Jimmy Jefferies, the voice of WFAA radio; and Aubrey Gass, who wrote some of the most popular western songs of the 1940s.
In the late 1950s, an elevator and central heat/air system was installed. The exterior of the building has not been altered since the 1940s when the front entry was remodeled slightly to accommodate a wider street.
In 2002, the Masons of Oak Cliff Lodge #705 sold the building and moved to a new building three miles south. Today, other Mason chapters meet nightly in the upper lodge rooms.
Location
Located at 115 S. Beckley Avenue (at Sunset Avenue), adjacent to the Cliff Temple Baptist Church, the three-story lodge was built in 1920 at a cost of $85,000. Part of Dallas Land & Loan Addition No. 2, the building is located just outside the Lake Cliff Historic District, two blocks from historic W.H. Adamson High School, and less than a mile from the Bishop Arts District. The building is just a few blocks south of the house where Lee Harvey Oswald rented a room when he shot President John F. Kennedy.