The Knights of Pythias Lodge Hall, also known as Pythian Castle, in Weiser, Idaho is a building built in 1904. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

History

The Pythian Castle was originally owned and commissioned by the

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias is the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an act of the United States Congress. It was founded ...

, an international, non-sectarian fraternal order, established in 1864. The building was designed by Boise, Idaho architectural firm

Tourtellotte & Hummel Tourtellotte & Hummel was an American architectural firm from Boise, Idaho and Portland, Oregon. The firm was established in Boise in 1896 as the private practice of architect John E. Tourtellotte. In 1901, he made Charles F. Hummel a partner in ...

. The cut stone for the front was supplied by Roberts and Sheff and quarried at Sand Hollow, near Weiser. The masonry work was completed by Hamilton and Reader Masonries of Weiser, Idaho. In 1982, the building came into ownership of the Weiser Architectural Preservation Committee and remains as a historical monument in the city of Weiser, Idaho.

Construction and features

Each stone was transferred to the site and hand cut to fit. The symmetrical cut-stone structure faces south. Two plate-glass windows make up the first floor, with a glass door at the eastern corner. Three cut-stone columns break up the first story's facade and culminate in Romanesque arches over the plate glass windows. A stone band separates the first and second stories. A large, centered window, originally stained glass but now boarded over, dominates the second story. It has a corbelled Tudor arch and is flanked by two double-hung sash windows with small stained glass transoms, also capped by Tudor arches. Four cylindrical pilasters extend the length of the second story. The two interior pilasters extend the length of the second story. The two interior pilasters are wider and terminate as miniature towers with flagstaffs. The entire building is surmounted by crenellated battlements.

References

Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Idaho Buildings and structures completed in 1904 Buildings and structures in Washington County, Idaho Knights of Pythias buildings National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Idaho Weiser, Idaho {{Idaho-NRHP-stub