The MASONIC TEMPLE was built on the site of the former Henry Wick mansion at 3615 EUCLID AVE. The 220,000 sq. ft. Romanesque Revival building was designed by the architectural firm of HUBBELL & BENES. The Temple’s auditorium opened in 1919 and the rest of the building was completed by 1921. Key components included a 2,200-seat auditorium, a grand foyer, and meeting/event space for its founders, the Scottish Rite MASONS (a.k.a., The Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite Valley of Cleveland) and (later) the Masons’ Grand Lodge of Ohio and the Freemasons. Hubbell & Benis previously had designed WADE MEMORIAL CHAPEL in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY (1901), the Citizens' Bldg. (1903); the Mather College Gymnasium (1908); the WEST SIDE MARKET (1912), the downtown YMCA (1912), and the CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART (1916).
Cleveland’s relationship with the Masons dates almost to the city’s founding. MOSES CLEAVELAND was a Freemason and early meetings were held in a tavern owned by LORENZO CARTER. The organization’s first lodge was built in 1811. Its first Temple was erected in 1886 on the site now occupied by the FEDERAL RESERVE BANK at E. 6 th St. and Superior Ave. Once described by the PLAIN DEALER as an “impenetrable fortress,” the Euclid Ave. structure—dark brick and nearly windowless—is nonetheless warm and inviting on the inside. Ornate carvings, elaborate woodwork, Masonic iconography, and brass and plaster castings line the walls. Ornamental balconies, marble staircases, and plush auditorium seating (original) enhance the attendee experience.
Masonic Temple’s first major tenant was the CLEVELAND ORCHESTRA, established in 1918 and led by Russian-American violinist and conductor NIKOLAI SOKOLOFF. The Orchestra’s prior performances (1918-1921) were staged at downtown Cleveland’s HIPPODROME THEATER and GRAYS ARMORY. However, the new structure’s acoustics were deemed far superior, and the Orchestra thus made Masonic Temple its home until SEVERANCE HALL opened in 1931.
For decades after its opening, the Temple hosted concerts, recitals, operas, movie screenings, plays, and other events. The KOKOON ARTS CLUB held its annual Bal Masque there from 1920-1926. Will Rogers made appearances in 1925, 1927 and 1928. Even after Severance Hall opened, The Cleveland Orchestra performed at the Temple periodically and (citing the building’s stellar acoustics) often used the Auditorium to record. From 1938 on, the venue was home to the CLEVELAND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA. In later decades, performances also were staged by Dancing Wheels and The Singing Angels.
The last Masonic group to own the Temple was the Freemasons, which sold the building in 1969 but remained as tenants. Ownership, maintenance, and public use changed hands several times before the building was vacated in 1984. In 2017 the building was acquired, rehabbed, and reopened by Beaty Capital Group, which operated the facility as TempleLive (a.k.a., Temple CLE). Moderate success followed with numerous forms of live entertainment, including concerts, comedy shows, burlesque nights, wrestling, and even silent films (accompanied by a 1924 Wurlitzer Theater pipe organ). Despite pouring $8.1 million into renovations, TempleLive opted to shutter the facility in Sept. 2025. No plans for the building were announced at that time. Masonic Temple was added to the NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES in 2001.
Christopher Roy