By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Kwesi Daniels, Ph.D. Head of the Architecture Department at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, is used to studying vintage buildings near and far and many can be lost to time. But that was not the case last month when he made his first visit to the historic Masonic Temple in downtown Birmingham.
The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons (F & AM) of Alabama, Temple Building, a seven-story structure on the corner of 17th Street North and 4th Avenue, is an architectural marvel. The Masonic Temple began construction in 1922 and was opened in 1924.
Daniels, currently a tenured associate professor at Tuskegee University and an adjunct professor at New York University, described his site visit, which came part of a seminar, as “awe-inspiring … We rarely have the opportunity to be inside a building they designed that is still intact.”
During the seminar, he said, “Every time you walk into a historic building, you’re stepping into a story. You can’t do work in that space without understanding who touched those grounds and how that place helped shape the world around it.”
Here’s what else Daniels had to say about the Masonic Temple in emailed questions submitted last week.
In what ways could the Masonic Temple be described as a “laboratory for learning”?
For a one-hundred-year-old building it is in great condition. It is a great illustration of a mixed use facility that served as an economic hub for professional businesses and community organizations. It epitomizes the idea of cooperative economics. The building provides an opportunity to research what type of message the masonic lodge wanted to communicate to everyone who visited the building. The building has a lot to teach us, from the rationale for its architectural style, to how the layout supported economic development, it is a time capsule of the consciousness of the Black Birmingham community.
The building was designed by African American architects. As one of the preeminent Black architecture professors of our time how would you describe the feeling of walking in that space?
It was awe inspiring. As the Department Head of Architecture at Tuskegee University, I am often interacting with the physical environment that Robert R. Taylor, Louis Persley, and other Tuskegee architects created on the Tuskegee campus. Unfortunately, due to multiple interior renovations, many of the design decisions employed by our early architects are lost to time. We rarely have the opportunity to be inside a building they designed that is still intact. One of the highlights of the seminar was the tour of the Masonic Lodge, because it allowed me to have a deeper insight into the architectural mind of Robert R. Taylor, the namesake of architecture program and father of Black Architecture.
How is preservation more than just about “saving” the building?
Preservation is more than just “saving” the building, because it allows us to learn about the stories that are associated with it. The building is the anthology of the community that developed in and around it. People often say, “if these walls could talk”, when they discuss buildings. In my experiences, this phrase is more than a conjecture, it is the reality of historic spaces. Every recorded event, photograph, oral history, and experience people share about a building help us understand its biography. Through the process of preserving a building, we gain insight into the power of the place. Every experience shared about the building and its impact on the community reveals its soul. The building becomes alive and we learn that “saving” it equals “saving” our own humanity.
What must be done to restore it to past grandeur?
As I understand it they are in the process of raising funding to restore the building into retail and office space, with an intentional focus on sustainability. The Masonic Temple came into existence through collective effort. Its grandeur still exists and every window that is restored, wall that is painted, and relic within it that is preserved recovers its grandeur. As noted earlier, through learning about the building and how it came into existence, we will learn about ways we can move forward to return the economic power to the overlooked areas of our community. The building’s grandeur never became dull, only our vision for its purpose in community.
