Six Million dollars appears to be the answer, or best offer.
It was sad to see this story in my inbox – St. Louis City Masonic Temple being sold.
Here we have yet another Masonic lodge being sold off to make way for luxury condos or a shopping mall. Only this time, it happens to be the New Masonic Temple in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Built in a Classical revival style in 1926, the temple on Lindell Boulevard has played host to, then, Grand Master Harry Truman, and initiated the Spirit of St. Louis pilot, Charles Lindbergh. For the Gen-Xer’s who might be reading, the temple steps were the back drop for parts of the film Escape from New York.
Perhaps the most notable element of the building is the 38 foot long mural, The Origins of Freemasonry, created by Jessie Housley Holliman and dedicated by, then senator, Harry S. Truman in 1941. Holliman, you see, was an African American woman commissioned for the work.
This would appear to be the mural:
The temple celebrated its 80 year anniversary in 2006.