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The Detroit Masonic Temple is the world's largest Masonic Temple.〔Alex Lundberg, Greg Kowalski: ''Detroit's Masonic Temple'', Arcadia Pub., 2006.〕 Located in the Cass Corridor of Detroit, Michigan, at 500 Temple Street, the building serves as a home to various masonic organizations including the York Rite Sovereign College of North America.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=York Rite Sovereign College of North America )〕 The building contains a variety of public spaces including three theaters, three ballrooms and banquet halls, and a clear-span drill hall.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://themasonic.com/oakroom.php )〕 Recreational facilities include a swimming pool, Handball court, gymnasium, bowling alley, and a pool hall. There are also numerous lodge rooms, offices, and dining spaces as well as a hotel section, 80 rooms total, available to any noble of the mystic shrine or blue lodge mason, none however in usable condition currently. The Masonic Temple Theatre is a venue for concerts, Broadway shows, and other special events in the Detroit Theater District. Architect George D. Mason designed the theatre,as well as the whole structure which contains a stage, one of the largest in the country. Detroit Masonic Temple was designed in the neo-gothic architectural style, using a great deal of limestone. The ritual building features 16 floors, stands tall, with 1037 rooms. It dominates the skyline in an area known as Cass Corridor, across Temple Street from Cass Park, and Cass Technical High School. It is within walking distance of the MotorCity Casino Hotel. ==History== The Masonic Temple Association was incorporated in Detroit in 1894. It moved into its first temple, on Lafayette Boulevard at First Street, in 1896. Outgrowing these quarters, the Association purchased land on Bagg Street (now Temple Avenue) to build a new temple that would also include a public theater. Fund-raising for construction of the building raised $2.5 million, and ground-breaking took place on Thanksgiving Day, 1920.〔Zietz, Karyl Lynn (1996). (''The National Trust Guide to Great Opera Houses in America'' ), p. 103. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.〕 The cornerstone was placed on September 19, 1922, using the same trowel that George Washington had used to set the cornerstone of the United States Capitol in Washington D.C.. The building was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1926. The horseshoe-shaped auditorium originally had a capacity of 5,000. Due to poor sight lines along the sides of the stage, nearly 600 seats were removed (or never used), reducing maximum seating to 4,404. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and is part of the Cass Park Historic District, which was established in 2005.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Cass Park Historic District )〕 In April 2013, the building was reported to be in foreclosure over $152,000 in back taxes owed to Wayne County. The debt was paid off in May 2013, and in June 2013, it was revealed that $142,000 of the bill was footed by singer-songwriter Jack White, a Detroit native known for his work with The White Stripes. He wanted to help the temple in its time of need as they had helped his mother in a time of need: the temple gave her a job as an usher in the theater when she was struggling to find work. In response, the Detroit Masonic Temple Association renamed its Scottish Rite cathedral the Jack White Theater. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Detroit Masonic Temple」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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