The Morocco Temple (also known as the Morocco Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine) is a historic
Shriners International
Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Shriners International describes itself ...
building in
Jacksonville
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. It is located at 219 Newnan Street, and was designed by Jacksonville
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Henry John Klutho
Henry John Klutho (1873–1964) was an American architect known for his work in the "Prairie School" style. He helped in the reconstruction of Jacksonville, Florida after the Great Fire of 1901—the largest-ever urban fire in the Southeast—by ...
. On November 29, 1979, it was added to the U.S.
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The building is the oldest Shrine temple in Florida.
History
The grand building was erected in 1910-11 in the
prairie style
Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...
of architecture using ancient Egyptian-themed symbols. The entrance was a large battered
architrave
In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns.
The term can ...
featuring a massive transom atop short columns in the Egyptian revival style. The three levels included a main floor, a 1,500 seat auditorium and a balcony.
The structure was constructed using steel reinforced concrete and stuccoed brick exterior walls with
terracotta
Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous.
In applied art, craft, construction, a ...
ornamentation. A fabricated metal
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
incorporating a geometric design projected above the third floor windows on the front and sides of the buildings, which was noted as a Sullivanesque ornament to emphasize a horizontal aspect. Inside, many windows and light fixtures used color-tinted glass, and mosaic-tiled floors looked like oriental carpets. The walls were covered with a
polychromatic
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery or sculpture in multiple colors.
Ancient Egypt
Colossal statu ...
faience
Faience or faïence (; ) is the general English language term for fine tin-glazed pottery. The invention of a white pottery glaze suitable for painted decoration, by the addition of an oxide of tin to the slip of a lead glaze, was a major ad ...
symbols
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
. Oil-painted murals illustrated the
Freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
s’ and
Shriner
Shriners International, formally known as the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (AAONMS), is an American Masonic society established in 1870 and is headquartered in Tampa, Florida.
Shriners International describes itself ...
s’ history, with scenes of Jesus, King Solomon and Mecca.Bull, Roger "Cecil W. Powell & Co. occupies historic Jacksonville landmark" Florida Times-Union, June 28, 2010 The auditorium was wide with the roof supported by steel trusses. Access to the balcony was via two curved ''floating'' reinforced concrete stairways.
The auditorium's ceiling was painted dark blue and imbedded with hundreds of pieces of glass that would reflect light, giving the appearance of stars. The curtain on stage was decorated with views of Arabia.
In the 1910s, when Jacksonville was the "Winter Film Capital of the World", Oliver Hardy was a member of the local temple. President
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
delivered a speech there in 1912, as did
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
.
Shirley Temple
Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...
was one of numerous celebrities who appeared at the Morocco Temple.
The facility was also used for many major events and conventions.
The Morocco Temple was the only auditorium in town until the ''Jacksonville Civic Auditorium'' was constructed in 1960.Szaroleta, Tom "Symphony to Rise to the Occasion" Florida Times-Union, April 17, 2007
Klutho's design was damaged in the late 1950s when the large metal cornice was removed from the front and sides. The tall ground floor windows on both sides were obscured. At the same time, an addition was constructed on the south side that extended beyond the front entrance, creating an unbalanced design.
Recent usage
The Shriners decided to move to the suburbs in the early 1980s. They wanted more space and room to park, plus "too many of their members were getting mugged leaving at night" according to Hugh Powell, the building's current owner.
In the early 1980s the Shriners built a new facility on the south side. Their old building was purchased in 1984 by the Cecil W. Powell & Company, an insurance broker. A huge renovation was required to create offices.
However, because the building was on the National Register of Historic Places, the changes were required to retain the basic integrity of the structure. The stage was transformed into an atrium, and the murals were refurbished and encased with glass. The auditorium was destroyed when an additional floor was constructed, but the vertical windows on the building's sides were uncovered. The tile and staircases remain unmodified, and there are now four carpeted and partitioned floors with a total of .
The Powell company moved in during 1986, and Jacksonville's ''Public Works Department'' rented the top three floors during the 1990s. Today, the Powell company is on the ground level, one floor is unoccupied, and lawyers, a title company and court reporter rent office space in the other two.
The