The Masonic Temple is a hall in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-west corner of

Davenport Road Davenport Road is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is believed to follow an old native trail along the foot of the scarp of the old shoreline of glacial Lake Iroquois. It currently runs from Yonge Street in the eas ...

and Yonge Street.

History

Construction began November 2, 1916, when the contract was signed and approved by the Board of The Masonic Temple Company for the tearing down of an existing church and excavation. The Masonic ceremony of laying the cornerstone occurring November 17, 1917, with the first Lodge meeting taking place on New Year's Day, 1918. At its peak, the Masonic Temple was home to 38 different Masonic bodies: 27 Craft Lodges, six Chapters (

York Rite The York Rite, sometimes referred to as the American Rite, is one of several Rites of Freemasonry. It is named for, but not practiced in York, Yorkshire, England. A Rite is a series of progressive degrees that are conferred by various Masonic ...

), two Preceptories (

Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...

), two Scottish Rite Bodies and Adoniram Council. The hall functioned as a

ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic man ...

in the 1930s and began to host rock acts in the late 1960s. In the years before its sale to CTV, the building housed live music clubs known as The Concert Hall, and earlier, in the late 1960s, The Rock Pile, a sitting-on-the-floor style concert venue that featured not only showcases for top local talent but also appearances by major international recording stars, including Toronto's first

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

concert on February 2, 1969, during the band's inaugural North American Tour. Although the location remained historically significant and was added to the

City of Toronto Heritage Property Inventory The City of Toronto's Heritage Property Inventory is a list of buildings, structures, and properties in Toronto that are identified by the city, for the purposes of preserving their original facades and appearances. The inclusion of any property on ...

in 1974, the building has changed hands a number of times. In 1997, it was threatened with demolition: a developer had planned a new highrise residential building marketed to Asians, solely to exploit its " lucky" address of 888 Yonge Street, It was designated under the ''

Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage ...

'' in the same year. Also in the 1990s, the studio was the home of ''

Open Mike with Mike Bullard ''Open-Mike with Mike Bullard'' was a Canadian late-night talk show which was broadcast live from 1997 to 2003 on CTV and on The Comedy Network in primetime. It was hosted by comedian Mike Bullard and initially taped at a studio at the back of ...

'', and was one of CTV Toronto's news bureaus. Also, notably, it has been rented as a rehearsal space by the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

. From March 2006, the building became the broadcast home of the new

MTV Canada MTV is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Bell Media with the name and branding used under a licensing agreement with Paramount Global. The channel is devoted to talk, lifestyle and documentary programming, and also airs some ...

and has hosted the

Polaris Music Prize The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was incr ...

since 2009. The building's fate was once again placed under a cloud on November 2, 2012, when Bell Media announced the moving of MTV Canada studio production to

299 Queen Street West 299 Queen Street West, also known as Bell Media Queen Street or Bell Media Studios, is the headquarters of the television/radio broadcast hub of Bell Canada's media unit, Bell Media located at the intersection of Queen Street West and John Stree ...

and that the building would be sold, possibly for condominiums. Bell Media officially listed the property for sale on March 4, 2013. On June 17, 2013, the building was purchased by the Info-Tech Research Group for $12.5 million. Info-Tech announced that its plans for the building include staging an annual charity rock concert in the auditorium. In 2017, as part of the press for the

Toronto Jazz Festival The Toronto Jazz Festival is a jazz event in Toronto which takes place for 10 days in late June through early July. Unlike the Beaches International Jazz Festival, most of the events are indoors and located throughout the downtown core. The hub of t ...

, it was announced that 888yonge Inc., operating as The Concert Hall, intended to re-establish itself as a premier Toronto events space, year-round, and open to the public. Since 2018, the venue leases its space for the Sunday services of Hillsong Canada, a charismatic Christian megachurch pastored by Damian Bassett and Julie Bassett. The church's inaugural service was held on September 23, 2018. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, in-person services were suspended on March 15, 2020, and resumed with health and safety measures on July 11, 2021.

List of live shows

References

External links

History of the Masonic Temple
{{Hillsong Buildings and structures in Toronto Masonic buildings in Canada Music venues in Toronto Television studios in Canada Masonic buildings completed in 1917 City of Toronto Heritage Properties