Shakespeare Lodge 750

Free & Accepted Masons of the

Grand Lodge of the State of New York

W.˙. Julio Duran, Master

Our Lodge: Colonial Room

[click on photos for enlargements]

Masonic Hall is located at 71 West 23rd Street (near 6th Avenue) in the heart of Manhattan. It is home to some 120 Masonic Lodges and related organizations, and is one of the largest buildings in the world devoted to Freemasonry. It was built in 1910, and a major renovation was done done in 1986. Each room is a magnificent piece of art.

Shakespeare Lodge meets in the Colonial Room, on the 10th Floor of the building. This room was thoroughly researched in the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the restoration. It features colonial colors, chiefly wedgewood blue, burnt orange and silver, which hint of the Spanish period. Gold rosettes around the room pick up the colors of the sconces and chandeliers, which turned out to be sterling silver when years of tarnish were removed.

Elements of the motif were picked up in the stenciled design between the arches. Colonial-style chairs were substituted for the russet-colored benches in the front row for period effect. The color scheme is carried into the adjoining anterooms.

The columns on either side of the Master's chair in the East provide a marbleized effect, although they are made of plaster.

You would have noticed a unique landmark in Shakespeare Lodge during 2000-2001. That year the Master ordered that three Great Books reside upon the altar: the Jewish Bible, the Christian Bible and the Moslem Qoran. The books provide Great Light to the Worshipful Master and to the Wardens, who are each represented by one of these books.