The city of Cincinnati, Ohio has kicked off a $10 million renovation of a historic Masonic temple in the East Price Hill area's Incline neighborhood. Price Hill Lodge 524 was chartered in 1882.
The 21,000-square-foot temple, built in 1911, was the home of the Price Hill Lodge until 1989, when they merged with the nearby North Bend Lodge 346. That lodge still flourishes today.
Mayor John Cranley and other city officials will be on site at 11 a.m. to help launch the project at 3301 Price Ave., which is being funded in part with a $3 million grant from the city.
The project also received historic tax credits.
Plans call for the 21,000-square-foot historic lodge in the growing Incline District to be converted into an arts and event venue called the Incline Arts and Event Center.
The neoclassical building was designed by renowned Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford, who also designed some of the city's best known landmarks, including Music Hall and City Hall.
MYCincinnati Youth Orchestra, which will be the main tenant in the building, will perform Thursday at the kickoff ceremony for redevelopment of the building, which has been vacant for decades.
The lodge closed in 1989. The building is four stories tall and features two two-story auditoriums. Plans are to have concerts featuring Price Hill Will's 110-member youth orchestra, as well as other attractions.
As with hundreds of other temples now lost to us, this could have obtained historic and foundation grants and welcomed diverse community projects as will now happen, along with Masonic activities.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see our temple in Salt Lake City host more community events. The MTA here is wary to open our doors, but I love the idea of making a community presence and making use of our gorgeous temple while we can still afford to save it. It's a slow, massive, and REALLY expensive project but truly worthy to keep it Mason-owned.
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