Scottish Rite Temple: This monumental building was modeled on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
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Built in 1915, the House of the Temple is the headquarters of the Supreme Council of the Southern Jurisdiction of the Thirty-Third Degree of the Ancient and Accepted Rite of Freemasonry. One of the most monumental buildings within the eclectic Sixteenth Street Historic District, the Temple of the Scottish Rite was designed by John Russell Pope — who also designed the National Archives and the Jefferson Memorial. Pope used the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, as his inspiration for the temple. Outside, guarding the temple doors, is a pair of monumental sphinxes, representing wisdom and power. The temple is laced with symbolism in its design and decor, much of which requires close attention to detail and may not be obvious to non-Masons.
The temple’s library, which was the first public library in DC, contains one of the world’s largest collections of materials on and by Scottish poet and Freemason Robert Burns.
DC Inventory: November 8, 1964 (Joint Committee on Landmarks)
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Scottish Rite Temple, Washington, D.C.
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | Date: Between 1980 and 2006
Scottish Rite Temple
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | Date: 1923
Dedication of Scottish Rite Temple, Wash., D.C., Oct. 1915
Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA | Date: 1915 Oct.