The Tripoli Shrine Temple is a

Shriners 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 ...

temple built 1926-28 in the Concordia neighborhood of

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. The building's design incorporates

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...

and

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

elements, somewhat resembling the

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

in India, and is listed on the

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 ...

as Tripoli Temple. It is not a religious building.

Description

The Tripoli Shrine was founded in 1885 by nobles from the Medinah Temple in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, a fraternal order that traces its lineage to a Masonic lodge established in 1843 by early settlers of Milwaukee. This lodge later founded a dozen other lodges. Tripoli Temple was designed by architects

Alfred Clas Alfred Clas (1859 - 1942) was an architect in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a partner in the firm Ferry & Clas with George Bowman Ferry and in 1913 Alfred C. Clas partnered with his son Reuben F. Clas and with John S. Shepherd, as junior partners, ...

and Shepard in

Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mid-19th centur ...

style. Built at a cost of $616,999.61, it formally opened on May 14, 1928 after over two years of construction. It was the first temple in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and was home to 13,000 Shriners in the area. The building is one of the best of examples of

architecture in the United States, a style that was particularly popular for synagogues and movie theaters. The Temple's design is loosely based on the

, with the addition of

Mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

style

polychrome 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 ...

stone coursing. An ornately tiled main dome that spans 30 feet in diameter crowns the structure and is flanked by two smaller domes of like design. Sculptures depicting a pair of

kneeling camels ''Kneeling Camels'' is a public art work by Paul Moulon located at front entrance of the Tripoli Shrine Temple, a civic organization in the Concordia neighborhood west of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The work consists of two large camels car ...

grace the entrance, while the interior is decorated with ceramic tile of intricate floral designs and plaster lattice work. With

External links

Tripoli Shrine TempleTripoli Shrine Circus

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Milwaukee Moorish Revival architecture in Wisconsin Shriners Masonic buildings in Wisconsin Masonic buildings completed in 1928 Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Milwaukee

Description

External links

See also

References