I just posted a mini-guide to Philadelphia on my blog blog and it reminded me that I never posted my Masonic Temple photos from October.

Technically, it's the The Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania.  The tour was awesome.  Our guide knew a lot about Masons, their history, and stories about the lodge itself.  It's BIG, too.  It was built when Victorian decorative excess was at it's height, so there is gilt, glamour, and geegaws everywhere you look.

The theme rooms are my favorite.  Well, they are all "themed" but specifically I liked Oriental Hall, Gothic Hall, Egyptian Hall (above), and Norman Hall.  

My absolute favorite detail is the blue painted ceiling in the hallway above that has gold stars painted on it.  They sparkled in the dim light.  So beautiful!  The colors in the photo are off.  The blue is deep blue.  The blue ceiling is several feet above the dark wood dropped ceiling and it's barely lit.  It almost looks like the night sky shimmering above you.  The effect is stunning.

You can check out all my Masonic Temple photos on Flickr.  Mostly I took pictures of little details I loved or wanted to remember.  If you want to see better pictures of the rooms themselves, check out the Temple's online tours.

This place is a smorgasbord of inspiration.  The feather plume chair is effing amazing.  I'm also crazy about the use of repeat patterns everywhere.  Oh!  And the colors ... be still my heart!  I love love love this place.