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Chicago – Scottish Rite Cathedral (in
memoriam)




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The cathedral was a complex of individual, yet abutting and interconnected, buildings facing
Walton Place, Dearborn Street, and Delaware Place, all owned by the
Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago. The most prominent of the buildings
was the limestone church
at 935 North Dearborn Street [n.s.] (originally 235 Dearborn Avenue [o.s.]),
built by Collier’s Unity Church,[2] an offshoot of the Unitarians,[3] beginning with the laying of its cornerstone on 29
August 1867, and later purchased by the Medinah Shriners
on 30 April 1903.[4]
The more significant building in the complex, from our
perspective here, however, is the large structure built, and first occupied in 1905, by the Scottish Rite
[5] in the centre of the block,
adjoining the south side of the church, and accessing the street via a stone-faced corridor extension constructed in the vacated
alleyway at 923 North Dearborn Street [n.s.] (293-5
Dearborn Avenue [o.s.]).[6]
The Valley’s so-called “Small Preceptory” occupied the third floor of this building in the centre of the block, and was the meeting
place of LaFayette Chapter No. 2
from the 1960s until the complex was turned over to the property
developers on 19 December 2006.[7] The structure was
carefully razed over the course of
several weeks in September and October 2007;[8]
care and precision were required in order not to damage the
surrounding structures.
Despite it having been constructed by the Scottish Rite, rather than
a Royal Arch chapter or other York Rite entity, notice the keystone design of the
apex of the west wall in the second photograph on the left. In later
years, large ductwork obscured the view of the keystone shape.
Both buildings face Washington Square Park, popularly known in the early 20th Century as “Bughouse Square.”
[9]
The colourised postcard to the left depicts both Medinah Shriners’
church building and the Scottish Rite’s structure (albeit with the
entrance to the latter erroneously coloured as brick, rather than as
its actual grey stone), sometime between 1905 and 1911, C.E. The
monochromatic photograph of the Scottish Rite structure and the 1891
George B. Carpenter mansion comes to us by the courtesy of the
Scottish
Rite Valley of Chicago. The aerial or orbital
photographs of the complex are copyright by
MapQuest and
are used herein pursuant to the fair use doctrine. The areal photograph
of the demolition were captured by Companion Stanley W. Smith of
LaFayette Chapter No. 2
on 13 September 2007. The ground-level photographs were captured by
Companion David A. Miley, Grand Webmaster, also of LaFayette Chapter
No. 2 on 15 September and 1 November 2007.
Please click here for our page about LaFayette Chapter’s hall in the former
Scottish Rite Cathedral.
Please click here for more images
and information about the former Scottish Rite Cathedral.
[2] Sam Loiacono & Harry Strouse, eds., Scottish
Rite Cathedral Tour, Valley of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago (2003): 1.
[3] Alphonse Cerza, 33°, A History of the Ancient
Accepted Scottish Rite in Illinois, 1846-1965, Bloomington, Illinois: Illinois Council of Deliberation (1966): 65-66.
[4] Id.
[5] George W. Warvelle, LL.D., 33°, History of Scottish
Rite Masonry in Chicago: From its introduction until the semi-centennial anniversary in the year 1907, Chicago: Oriental Consistory
(1907): 38.
[6] Id. at 19.
[7] Companion Gregory R. Klemm,
MEPGHP, 33°, “Scottish Rite - Valley of Chicago change of address” email message, Chicago: Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago (12 Dec. 2006).
[8] Companion Stanley W. Smith (LaFayette Chapter No. 2), email statement to
Companion David A. Miley, Grand Webmaster
(LaFayette Chapter No. 2),
(17 Sep. 2007); Companions Stanley W. Smith & David A. Miley (LaFayette Chapter No. 2),
personal observations and photographic records (17 Sep. - 1 Nov.
2007).
[9] Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago,
Illinois: Chicago Historical Society (n/k/a Chicago History Museum), at
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/
pages/178.html |