A vintage postcard shows the Shrine Building shortly after it opened in the 1920s, but an artist added the American flag.
Dear Vance: I work downtown and always thought the Shrine Building, at Front and Monroe, was apartments or condos. Is it true that it originally served as the national headquarters of the Shriners? — M.T., Memphis.
Dear M.T.: When it opened in 1923, the top floors of this downtown landmark served as the headquarters and private “clubhouse” for members of the Al Chymia Temple. This was the local chapter of the national organization founded in New York City called — are you ready? — The Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.
Perhaps you have it confused with the Elks Club, down the street at Front and Jefferson, which served as the national headquarters for that fraternal organization. Later converted into the King Cotton Hotel, it came down in 1984; the Raymond James Tower now stands on the site.
In the late 1800s and most of the 1900s, cities across the country were home to so many “benevolent societies” that it’s difficult to keep them straight. Newspapers often ran full-page “Lodge Notices” for not only the Shriners and Elks, but the Moose Lodge, Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Scottish Rite, Masons, and dozens of others.
The Al Chymia Shriners organized here in 1891, holding elaborate ceremonies and pageants in hotels and other meeting halls. In 1921, wanting a place of their own, they purchased a pair of nineteenth-century buildings on Front Street that housed Orgill Hardware and demolished them to make way for their spacious new Temple.
A newspaper rendering of the proposed Al Chymia Temple — complete with turrets and arches — bears no resemblance to the completed building.
Newspaper renderings (as shown here) depict an astonishing structure with turrets and arches, looking like a palace out of Arabia. Two local architectural firms joined forces to design the building — Hanker & Cairns and Jones & Furbringer — and they drastically simplified the design. They made a good team; between them, they created such landmarks as the Hotel Tennessee, Chisca Hotel, Claridge Hotel, Lowenstein’s Department Store, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Goodwyn Institute, and the new campus on North Parkway for Southwestern Presbyterian University — better known today as Rhodes College.
Another local firm, Kaucher-Hodges & Company, would do the actual construction. Established in 1907, they had erected several local school buildings, the first Campbell Clinic, and also won the contract to erect the first buildings at Southwestern. Construction began on the Shriners’ new 13-story Temple in August 1922, and members hoped to move in within the year. A newspaper carried this headline: “Temple Literally Going Up Overnight” and they weren’t exaggerating; the crews used floodlights so they could work night and day.
The Shrine Building stood out from older buildings around it. The Commercial Appeal noted, “The construction is on an especially high plane of individuality. Faced with white enamel brick and terra-cotta from the sidewalk level to the top of the roof garden, the structure will be one of the most striking and handsome in the city.”
Inside, the top seven floors would serve the Shriners. “Included in the plans will be lounging, club, reading, and visitors’ areas, along with pool and billiard rooms, a regulation bowling alley, a roof garden which will be the peer of any in the South, together with an enclosed winter garden on the top floor.” In the basement was “the largest and most modern indoor swimming pool in the South.”
The Washington Syncopators, described as “entertainers whose versatility has stamped them as artists in their line,” proved to be so popular that WMC Radio broadcast “their usual snappy program of dance hits, with a breezy dash that is refreshing.”
On the ninth floor was “the assembly room of the Shrine, with a seating capacity of 500. Around this room will extend a mezzanine floor, which will provide seating for 200 more persons, together with room for the band and patrol.”
The top of the building was capped with a boxlike structure that displayed the Shrine logo — a golden scimitar and crescent — and this was topped with an elaborate stone spire, painted in “gold and other colors.” Banks of spotlights would illuminate this tower at night, making the Shrine Building, already perched atop the river bluffs, visible for miles.
The lower floors would be leased to other companies, and rent from these spaces would pay for the upkeep of the building. In those early days, the ground floor held ticket offices for the local railroads, and the American Optical Company took the entire fourth floor. An eclectic variety of other tenants included physicians, dentists, accountants, architects, and insurance agencies, along with J. Cohen Tailors, Edith’s Hair Shop, Hermitage Loans, Elizabeth’s Children’s Clothing, Cleo’s Letter Shop, Babcock Lumber Co., DuBelle Cosmetics, Katherine-K-of-Memphis Corsets, and Horace Hall’s barbershop.
A present-day photograph of a 12th-floor apartment shows the large windows and the original plasterwork; note the coffered ceiling.
Despite all the news about the construction of the Shrine Building, when it was finished the local newspapers carried no announcement of a grand opening, a ribbon-cutting, or any special event. Maybe it would have seemed anti-climactic, since the Shrine was almost fully occupied by September 1, 1923 — the day the builders promised it would be finished.
Sixty-Six Monroe quickly became a prestigious address downtown, and Shriners from around the country paid visits to the Al Chymia Temple, to see how it compared to their own. That rooftop proved to be the most popular feature for the general public, offering concerts, parties, and dances. The Washington Syncopators, described as “entertainers whose versatility has stamped them as artists in their line,” proved to be so popular that WMC Radio broadcast “their usual snappy program of dance hits, with a breezy dash that is refreshing.” When that band wasn’t available, the manager of the Shrine Cafe organized his own little orchestra, the Skyline Serenaders, to draw the crowds.
Some of the entertainment borders on the bizarre — or downright offensive. On May 8, 1924, a rooftop reception and dance featured “twenty-five little people comprising the personnel of the Wright Midgets.” The Commercial Appeal assured ticket-holders that “the midgets will appear in full dress — all of them — and will dance with guests during the amusement rendezvous.”
Entire floors were vacant, and somebody might take the elevator to the fifth floor to visit Mrs. MacKassey’s Hair Shop, but they’d walk past empty offices and shops to get there.
But changes were on the horizon. Back in 1922, when members of Al Chymia were soliciting funds and selling $100 bonds to help finance their new building, they published a newspaper ad, headlined, “A Gild-Edged Investment That Merits Your Attention.”
“No question can or will be raised as to the financial integrity and responsibility of Al Chymia Temple,” they assured readers. “No contingency within the range of human probability, seen or unforeseen, could arise that would release the Shrine from its obligations.”
Unfortunately, nobody — not even the Shriners — anticipated the financial “contingency” known as the Great Depression. On January 14, 1938, the local newspaper announced, “Shrine Building Goes on Block.” Faced with overwhelming debt, the Shriners moved out of their Temple and put it up for sale. The buyer was the New York Life Insurance Company, who moved their offices to the 12th floor. The Shriners moved out and shared facilities with the Elks Club.
Over the next several years, stretching into decades, city directories showed the Shrine Building usually half-empty. Entire floors were vacant, and somebody might take the elevator to the fifth floor to visit Mrs. MacKassey’s Hair Shop, but they’d walk past empty offices and shops to get there.
In 1990, the authors of Memphis: An Architectural Guide praised the building, but regretted that “the vaguely Spanish cupola that rose over the center of the south façade had to be removed for structural reasons.” They wrote that in 1981 the Henry Turley Company, working with architect Tony Bologna and developer Mel Greer, had completed a transformation of the former Temple into 84 spacious apartments. “Much of the interiors of the Shriners’ floors was preserved, including the original terrazzo floors, arched windows, ornate plasterwork, and corbeled ceilings.” The basement swimming pool, empty for years, was refurbished.
A gallery of photographs — taken by Bologna & Associates and included with the building’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places — shows the Shrine Building as it looked in 1979:
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A view of the Shrine Building, as it looked in 1979, and little changed on the exterior. However, the decorative “spire” on the rooftop was removed many years ago. Compare the top of the building, as shown here, with the old postcard.
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The long-abandoned swimming pool in the basement has been fully restored.
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The lobby, leading to a pair of elevators, has changed very little.
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This area was originally part of the top-floor Rooftop Garden.
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Another scene of the top floor, which was originally home to the Rooftop Garden.
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Another view of the original Rooftop Garden.
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Another view of the top floor, which remained empty for years.
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This area was originally home to the Rooftop Garden.
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The original decorative lanterns now light the top of the building.
The only changes visible from the outside were minor. For example, “small windows have been replaced by larger ones, to light apartments now located where once the Shriners shot pool.” In 2005, Turley upgraded the building again, this time transforming “The Most Elegant Address in Memphis” into 74 luxury condos. As we go to press in February, four of those are available. Take your pick from a fourth-floor, one-bedroom space for $145,000. Or how about a two-level “Roof Garden” corner residence — at 4,000 square feet, larger than some homes in Central Gardens — for $900,000?
And the Shriners? Oh, they’re still around. Many years after they left downtown, they built a new Al Chymia Temple on Shelby Oaks Drive. In 2021, however, they moved even farther east; today, their home is in Oakland.
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Mail: Vance Lauderdale, Memphis Magazine, P.O. Box 1738, Memphis, TN 38101
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