Part 698: The Oakland Scottish Rite
On April 13, 1906, The San Francisco Chronicle published the plan for the anticipated Oakland Scottish Rite, reporting:
“Oakland, April 12. – At a cost f $150,000 the new Scottih Rite Cathedral will be erected immediately the southwest corner of Harrison and Fourteenth streets, to a spacious lot 100 feet square, only three block from the business center of Oakland. Because the entire building will be devoted to the uses of the Scottish Rite bodies of this city, the structure has been designed especially to meet their needs, and, when completed, it will be the most perfect building of its king on the Coast. Three principals floors and mezzanine floors between will afford ample accommodations for the lodges. In the basement will be located the banquet room with stage and ante-rooms. A thoroughly appointed kitchen and pantry will supplement this. The banquet room will be reached by two broad staircases, connecting with the two streets o which the building will face. The hall will be finished in rich tints and will be effectively lighted with incandescent lights. A gymnasium and bowling alley, with the usual boiler and store rooms, will complete the basement floor. On the mezzanine floor will be the ornamental entrance of the building, including the offices of the managers of the building. Marble, mahogany, mosaic tile and bronze will be used lavishly in the furnishing of this section of the edifice. On the first floor will be the club rooms, library, smoking and card rooms, billiard rooms, ladies’ parlors, hat and coat rooms, and dressing rooms. The second floor will contain the lodge room and will be the principal floor, in the building. The apartment will be 63×65 feet in size, with a coffered ceiling forty-four feet high and a large art glass dome, lighted from behind. The seating capacity will be 450 and, with a gallery which can be added, 200 more can be accommodated. A stage, with a proscenium opening and equipped with complete scenery and settings for most of the degrees from the fourth to the thirty-second, will be part of the furnishings. Bestor G. Brown, who has fitted up most of the Scottish Rite stages in America, will have charge of this work. The cost of the scenery will be approximately $8,000. An organ oft with a pipe organ and choir is part of the equipment, as are dressing, property and candidates’ rooms” (13 April 1906, page 13).
This was to be the second Oakland Scottish Rite cathedral to include a theater for degree work. Only a decade earlier, the Scottish Rite bodies of Oakland purchased and remodeled an old synagogue in 1896. This was similar to the Little Rock Masons in 1896, who also renovated an existing synagogue to include a Scottish Rite stage with new scenery.
The first Oakland Scottish Rite cathedral was located off Fourteenth Street, between Webster and Harrison Streets; it was dedicated on September 21, 1896. Ten years later the Oakland Scottish Rite was planning to build another Scottish Rite on the southwest corner of Harrison and Fourteenth streets.
As elsewhere across the country, the Oakland Scottish Rite bodies quickly outgrew their first home at 305 Fourteenth Street, necessitating a larger venue to accommodate an ever increasing candidate class sizes. On April 9, 1906, the Oakland Scottish Rite approved the finalized plans for a new Scottishi Rite Cathedral at Fourteenth snd Harrison Streets. Unfortunately, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and subsequent fire that same month altered their existing plans. Real estate values skyrockets and the anticipated building expenses doubled, causing the Oakland Scottish Rite bodies to rethink their plans. The began the search for an alternative location, finally deciding upon a spot at the southwest corner of Fifteenth and Madison. It took a while, but by 1908, a second set of plans was approved by the Oakland Scottish Rite and construction commenced on their second cathedral. On March 15, 1909, the dedication ceremonies finally took place at 1443 Madison Street.
To be continued…
