Cannot be missed. Tallest building in this area of North Blvd. (East of interstate) going away from downtown Baton Rouge. I learned alot about building doing research, and HAD to find it. Glad I did. Fine building, in great shape. Looked as if bottom floor was a barber shop.
Here is a fine article by Henry Kiely, on the building and history I found
Library article .
The recent acceptance of the Prince Hall Masonic Temple in Baton Rouge by the National Register of Historic Places is a tribute to seventy years of persistent faith. It would have been easy at times, through some troublesome years, for the founders and their successors to abandon the dream of perpetuating a showplace for the black community.
It started in 1924. The Grand United Order of Odd Fellows contracted with contracted with Conner, Bryant and Bell, a Baton Rouge black contracting company, to erect a building at 1335 North Boulevard. Occupation of the Neo-classical brick building with concrete accents began in 1925. In fact, Frank Johnson, a concrete mason who worked on the original construction, celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday this past February.
North Boulevard is still a major access road into downtown Baton Rouge. At the time the building was completed, there were some forty merchants and businesses between 12th Street and 16th Street. There were meat markets, grocers, a motor car company, a furniture company, a dry cleaners, a hardware store, a jeweler, a tailor, a drugstore, a dry goods store, a lumber company, a coffee company, and a funeral home.
The two major attractions of the building were the Temple Theatre, occupying most of the first floor and part of the second floor, and the Temple Roof Garden occupying the fourth floor. The rest of the space on the second floor and all of the third floor contained offices for various businesses and professional people. The District Grand Master of the Odd Fellows Lodge, Dr. B. V. Baranco, had his dental office in the building. On the third floor today are the executive offices of the M.W. Prince Hall Masonic Lodge Grand Master Earle L. Bradford, and his staff, as well as a huge meeting room used by some twenty-nine local Masonic lodges. An interesting tile floor in the meeting room is decorated with symbols of mason trade tools: a square, a plumb line, and a level.
The Roof Garden, now the Grand Ballroom, was the glamour spot for black Baton Rouge social functions. Best known were the appearances of national big name bands such as Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. When they played in the spring and summer months, the huge windows of the Roof Garden were thrown open and the music reverberated throughout the neighborhood. Today, local bands provide music for scheduled activities, which are held either in the ballroom or the theatre.
In the early ‘30s, the Odd Fellows experienced some financial difficulties. Spaulding Business College rented the Roof Garden until they relocated to Government Street years later. In 1948, the Temple was sold to the present owners, the M.W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge, F.A. & M. of Louisiana. The building became the headquarters of 179 Masonic lodges.
When it became available, air conditioning installed in the Roof Garden provided a significant change for the summer months. The windows were bricked in and plywood paneling was installed on the interior. Despite these changes, the space retains much of its original character, including handsome Neo-classical detailing.
Two sets of stairs at the north end of the room lead to an original balcony from which spectators relaxed while viewing the activities on the ballroom floor. Steam heated radiators provided heat during the winter months for many social activities. Debutante parties included prominent socialites of the black community. Other catered social events were fraternal dances, wedding receptions, sorority cotillions and banquets.
As the social hub of Baton Rouge’s black population, the Temple is an important addition to the National Register of Historic Places. This much deserved recognition is the result of a project launched by the Foundation for Historical Louisiana to nominate buildings important to the black community in Baton Rouge.