‘The Architects of the Universe’

The Craft of Freemasonry utilizes monumentality, archetypes, and symbolism to propagate their
traditional principles and ideologies to the public.

THIS THING, WE HAVE ALL BEEN WALKING PAST AND NOT NOTICING ALL THIS TIME BECOMES INCREDIBLY INTERESTING WHEN YOU SEE IT IN THIS
WAY.

Freemasonry and Architecture

Thesis/ Monumental Freemasonry Architecture- is the thing that we pass and pay no notice,
Approach however, enlightening literature enables us to we see it in a new way– literature
activating the banal.

Encountering the insider literature as well as literature written from a distance to activate
the societies knowledge on geometry and emblematic within Architecture.

The monumental propagation of principals and ideologies

“The success of Freemasonry should not be measured by a numerical account of its

membership, but rather by the propagation of its principals within its membership and
within human society”.

Intro With roots going back to the medieval guild of stonemasons, Freemasonry is the oldest
and largest non-dogmatic fraternal society in the world. Having lodges in virtually every
major city, this society raises the question what it is that makes such an old phenomenon
seem so relevant to so many diverse people for over three hundred years 1. While there is
no single answer, it can be argued that the freemason’s heavy hand in monumental
Architecture allows it to prevail today. Architecture, especially Classical Architecture, is
central to freemasonry, however, it is believed that Modernist architecture has no coherent
language and is wholly divorced from the ancient techniques of working with stone and,
therefore, has no connection to the Craft2. This contemporary discourse gives rise to the
idea that freemasonry is in a decline, as Bro. Henning A. Klovekorn argues, the success of
Freemasonry should not be measured by the numerical account of its membership, but
rather by the propagation of its principals within its membership and within human society 3.
This major propagation of ideology and beliefs are still seen around the world as symbols
and allegories are portrayed through buildings such as the mythical Temple of Solomon,
the Templar Wood, the Rosslyn chapel, the George Washington Memorial, and the United
States Capital, all of which will be analysed through this essay.
1st In order analyse these monuments in depth, it is imperative to know the key symbols and
Paragraph ideas of the Freemasons. The main teachings inform the believers that the craft fosters
truth which is guided by rationalism, allowing for personal beliefs and expression to thrive
Base while still striving for unity, acceptance, and a common ground amongst all. It is a myriad of
beliefs + Pythagorean, Platonic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Eastern doctrines. It is believed that the
common underlying geometric and philosophical truths, shown through allegory, are “a
symbolog manifestation of the universal laws of nature, pointing to the unalterable laws of the
y universe, to the all-encompassing force which brings order to chaos”4. This concern for
creating order out of chaos is manifested through the manipulation of geometry and the
creation of works in which aesthetic plays a far greater role than anything likely to be found

1
A lodge is an organisation within the craft of freemasonry, varying in rank (independent Grand Lodges, Rites and Systems), rules and
regulations and different governing bodies. The members partake in lodge meetings and banquets as well as ceremonies and rites within
the lodges.
- Henrik Bogdan, “Introduction,” essay, in Handbook of Freemasonry, ed. Jan Snoek, vol. 8 (Boston, MA: Brill, 2014).
2
Bogdan, Snoek, “Introduction essay, in Handbook of Freemasonry.
3
Henning A. Klövekorn, 99 ̕of Freemasonry: Turning the Solomon Key (West Lakes, S. Aust.: Seaview Press, 2006).
4
Klovekorn, ‘, 99 ̕of Freemasonry: Turning the Solomon Key.’
 in a mere building.5

2nd Sir John Soane OR the Temple of Solomon.

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Considered one of the most inventive European architect of all time, Sir John Soane (1753
– 1837, Oxfordshire, England), was a British architect notable for his original, highly
personal interpretations of the Neoclassical style. He was a convinced Freemason, initiated
in 1813 and he designed the council chambers of Freemasons Hall in London (1828-1831
– destroyed in 1863, in what now is Great Queen street, London) and the ark of the
Masonic Covenant (1813-1814). Soane was an avid reader, thus informing his radical
ideals, for example, in the writings of Antoine Court de Gebelin and Viel de Saint-Maux 6, he
developed the believe that sacred architecture of the ancients stressed the role of allegory
and symbolism, therefore, we should too.7 The surviving drawings that Soane completed
for the Masonic Hall show a design similar to many classical architects, from initial richness
of ornamentation to comparative simplicity, as seen in Figure 2 and 3.(include early plans).
The memorable hall included a pendant dome, in the form of a canopy, resembling
Soane’s favourite ‘Sarcophagus lid’ 8motif (see figure 4 – pg 412 in essay), which would
have hovered above the room “like a great out-spread bat’s wing”. 9 Coloured light was a
central focus for many of Soane’s design, with the painted glass in the clerestory windows
contained representations of the five columns, a Masonic reference to the five orders of
antiquity.10 Similarly, the kitchen was designed with a Palladian type timber truss roof, held
in place with iron tie rods. David Watkin, author of the essay ‘Freemasonry and Sir John
Soane’ suggests a connection between the timber trussing of the kitchen and the hovering
canopy to be a representation of the Masonic ritual’s ascent from manual labour to spiritual
enlightenment. 11 Soane owned literature that showed the masonic desire to rebuild a
mortal edifice as an “exemplar of what was noble and splendid and true in the first ages of
the world”, the main example of this being the Temple of Solomon. 12

For over one thousand years, Masonic ritual has been centred around the building of King
Solomon’s temple, referred to in the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures. James Stephen
Curl summarised this masonic desire in the context of the Enlightenment perfectly;
“Freemasons sought a return to simple, primitive, elemental truths, and a reconstruction of
a noble, true, altruistic progress from those truths along the civilized paths of architectural
history in which the language of the Orders, the Temple of Solomon, and Reason would
play their parts”. Masonic lore dictated that this temple is a representation of the ‘inner’
temple of human beings, the temple of humanity. The need to rebuild this temple as a
metaphor of perfection has been a central aspiration of the craft and, while the details in
5
Bogdan, Snoek, “Introduction essay, in Handbook of Freemasonry’.

6
A Protestant pastor and an Architectural theorist, respectively.

7
The literature promoted a vision of world architecture rich with the signs of religion, myth, and cosmology, while for Court de Gebelin,
the sublime drama of initiatory rituals provided a continuity from the Egyptian world and so to that of Freemasonry.

8
This motif also reoccurs on the tomb that Soane erected (1816) for himself.
9
Pierre de la Ruffiniere du Prey, Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum, Sir
John Soane (London, 1985), 84. REFFERENCE CORRECTLY - The United Grand Lodge of England has a drawing
from Soane's office, dated 2 December 1828, showing his Masonic Hall in section, with the lantern.
10
Columns lined up in this way were a familiar device on the craft certificates and invitation cards of
eighteenth- century English lodges. ee T. . Haunch, "English Craft Certificates," ibid., 169-
11
Watkin, D. (1995) “Freemasonry and Sir John Soane,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 54(4),
pp. 402–417. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/991082.
12
Ibid
 the bible and other pieces of literature are tantalisingly minimal, many attempts have been
made. With reoccurring pieces of information, it can be said that the temple had two, large
freestanding columns at the front13 creating an in antis type architecture with a dome or
rectangular opening in the roof14. While it is nearly impossible to create such a
reconstruction, this temple holds significant meaning, providing a staple piece for all
Masonic architectural works to follow as it reflects the World and Order of the Universe.

Figure 1- John Soane, Masonic Hall, section of lantern

Figure 2 - FIGURE 6: John Soane, Masonic Hall, early

plan, May 1826

13
Parallels between twin obelisks that flanked the entrances of Ancient Egyptian temples.
14
In antis - describing the posts or pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance of a Greek temple.
 Figure 4 - FIGURE I: John Soane, Masonic Hall, London, "evening view" by Joseph Gandy, 1832

Figure 3 - Illustration from Grand Orient

de France) 1801, showing a pantheon -
like structure on a base of seven steps
with various Masonic symbols. Note the
boarder, alluding to the works of Soane
and the care of providence, which
‘surrounds and keeps Freemasons within
its protection; it is an emblem of the
fraternal bond by which Freemasons are
united” Stephen James Curl.
3rd The templar Wood temple (pg 247) and the Rosslyn Chapel + their symbolism as ancient
Paragraph architecture still standing today.
4th The George Washington Memorial + United States capital
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While our teachings about architecture are usually metaphorical today, there are times
when we really are builders. Those occasions give us an opportunity to translate our
ancient teachings into physical reality. Nowhere is this better demonstrated than in the
design of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, where the five Classical
orders, tastefully accented by modern Art Deco elements, unite in an harmonious fabric
devoted forever to the memory of our most esteemed Freemason, Brother George
Washington. We imagine that brethren like James Anderson, Martin Clare, Francis Drake,
Edward Oakley, and Benjamin Cole would be proud to see that the Fraternity which they
establish in the upstairs halls of English taverns would one day honor its greatest member
with a structure of such magnificent beauty.

Many other leaders of the American Revolution, including Paul Revere, John Hancock, the
Marquis de Lafayette, and the Boston Tea Party saboteurs, were also Freemasons, and
Masonic rites were witnessed at such events as Washington’s presidential inauguration
and the laying of the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.–a city
supposedly designed with Masonic symbols in mind. Masonic symbols, approved by
Washington in the design of the Great Seal of the United States, can be seen on the one-
dollar bill. The All-Seeing Eye above an unfinished pyramid is unmistakably Masonic, and
the scroll beneath, which proclaims the advent of a “New Secular Order” in Latin, is one of
Freemasonry’s long-standing goals. The Great Seal appeared on the dollar bill during the
presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, also a Mason.

Conc