Masonic Temple and School of Arts site

Building front of Masonic Temple Ryde
Style

Inner-war Free Classical

Year started

1908

Year modified

Circa 1925-1926

About the Masonic Temple

The Masonic Lodge first met in the Eastwood Hotel in 1885. Lodge Star of Eastwood Number 715 Scottish Constitution then moved to Ryde. Meetings took place in various places and in 1902 the Lodge bought land for construction of the Ryde Masonic Temple, also known as the Lodge Horace Thompson Ryde.

A subscription financed the building in 1908. The foundation stone was laid by the Most Worshipful, the Grand Master, His Excellency, Admiral Sir Harry H. Rawson, Governor of New South Wales. The Lodge has met here monthly except during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918, and the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

By 1921, the Lodge and supper rooms were deemed too small. A new building was considered but the existing one was altered instead and dedicated in 1926. With the larger hall and a stage, the Ryde Masonic Centre became the social hub of the district with regular dances being held there. It was also a popular wedding reception venue.

The small park adjacent to the Temple was the site of the Ryde School of Arts. Founded in 1898 with 105 members, it lost much of its library in a fire in 1902. A new building of brick and tile was opened by the Premier Mr J. Carruthers in 1905. Designed by Mayor W. Thompson and built by J. Park and Sons of Gladesville, it contained a lending library and reading room, two billiard tables, and a meeting room. Demolished in 1965, the stone wall with a wooden seat is part of the original foundation.

Location

142 Blaxland Road, Ryde 2112  View Map

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