The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and
 we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.    –Michelangelo

HISTORY OF THE GRAND LODGE

The Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Maryland is a fraternal organization made up of the associated Masonic lodges from around the State. With a membership of over 19,000, the Grand Lodge of Maryland is part of a 3.4 million member national organization that dates back in modern times to 1717, when the Grand Lodge of London was founded at The Goose and Gridiron Alehouse. The first lodge in the United State, St. John's Lodge, was established in Philadelphia in June of 1731. 14 U.S. Presidents were/are Master Masons.

Nationally, the Masons contribute over $1,500,000 per day to charity, for causes that include support for the operation of 22 Shiners' Children's hospitals, 39 nursing homes, 11 orphanages, and various clinics and programs that provide health care and assistance for those that cannot reasonably be expected to provide the care themselves.

The Grand Lodge of Maryland came to Bonnie Blink, which in Scottish means "beautiful view", in 1927, when it purchased the 425 acre estate of J. John Wight, a member of the Baltimore City Council and prominent businessman from Cockeysville. Construction was completed in 1934 on the Gothic style mansion that was designed by Paul Emmart, a nationally famous architect from Baltimore. The mansion was renovated and expanded in two separate projects in the 1970's and today operates as a 210 bed nursing home for "the craft" (as the members of the lodge are collectively referred to), and their widows.

Planning for the Activity Center began in the late 1980's when the Grand Lodge recognized the need for a new social and fraternal meeting facility outside the downtown Baltimore setting. Selection of the site at Bonnie Blink was a logical choice because of the abundance of property for such a project, and the fact that many of the members of the fraternity are now living outside the city limits.

Grand Lodge

This Building contains approx. 36,000 sq. ft. and located on 3 levels. The Grand Lodge building includes a 400 seat ballroom facility which can be converted into four separate dining rooms, a full service kitchen, an 8,000 square foot Grand Lodge Room, four additional lodge rooms, a boardroom, and offices for the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master. Construction of the Activity Center began in March 1992 with final completion of the basement lodge room in July 1994.

Lower Level Lodge Rooms

There are four lodge rooms on this lower level; Ionic, Doric, Roman and Tuscan. These lodge rooms are used by the individual lodges for the purpose of holding the monthly meeting. The smallest room will seat 42 and the largest 76.

ENTRANCE FOYER 

The Mosaic Seal is the Grand Lodge of England and contains in excess of 70,000 pieces of hand cut marble. There are four smaller Mosaics depicting additional Masonic Symbols in the hallway surrounding the seal.

LOBBY CHANDELIER       

The “gem” of the project is the large crystal chandelier in the front foyer lobby. The Chandelier is cut crystal and is placed directly over the Grand Seal to balance the entrance to the building. Designed and made in New York, the 60" high fixture has 24 "arms" draped with crystal weighing over 700 pounds.

The Chandelier was shipped to the job site in over 40 crates and took two craftsmen nearly 20 hour to assemble and hang. The Ceiling Baskets in the west foyer & second floor lobby are uniquely detailed. The 30 yards of crystal strands that adorn the fixtures were also custom designed and hold over 1,100 individual crystals.

BALLROOM               

The Ballroom holds 400 people which can be divided into 4 sections. The Grand Lodge has its own China and Silver. The China is a bone color with a blue and gold trim with the Masonic Seal at the top. The floors in the ballroom, hallways and offices are 3/4' tongue in groove hand laid planks of walnut and cherry with inlaid ebony borders. The design modules for the ebony borders are scaled according to the size of each room and one will note that the ballroom border pattern in the full room and the partition divided small rooms each have symmetrical patterns. Virtually all of the moldings and paneling in the building are made from solid, faces carved Honduran Mahogany. Intricate detailing was achieved with a computer driven lathe, which was electronically scanned from the architect's hand drawn documents. One coat of satin, a single coat of vinyl sealer and two coats of catalyzed lacquer give the wood its rubbed finish appearance. The wood materials used throughout were specifically chosen for their richness in color and compatibility with the other elegant finishes.

BALLROOM CHANDELIERS     

Proper lighting design was a critical component for the building for its ornamental and enhancement role for the buildings finishes today and in the decades to come. The bronze designs specified for the crystal chandeliers, sconces and ceilings baskets in the west foyer and second floor lobby called for unique detailing and dimensions that required the preparation of new sand-casting mold which received the molten metal. The elegant chandeliers in this ballroom are constructed with hand carved, solid brass from Italy and weigh over 750 pounds each. Understandably, the structural system for the ceiling had to be strengthened significantly to carry the additional load.

MARBLE FLOORS    

Marble was chosen as the primary material for is ability to compliment the opulent architectural styling exhibited throughout the building. The natural warmth and subtle color range enabled the architect to create artistic compositions with elaborate geometric designs. Its durability provides a surface that will last for generations.

Eleven different colors of marble from four countries - Zimbabwe, Italy, Spain and Taiwan - were utilized by the design team. The conceptual floor design was detailed on 27 shop drawings to facilitate fabrication (Cutting). Straight cuts were made by traditional diamond saw blades. All curved cutting was accomplished using a computer driven abrasive water jet. The 3/4" thick marble is hand laid over a 1 3/4" dry mortar setting bed and spaced with "twigs" 1/16" apart. It is wet grouted and after curing (2 days) is ready for grinding. There is a six phase grinding process. 

MOSAICS                    

There are ten traditional Masonic icon and themes in the Activity Center. Detailed color sketches are prepared and approved prior to construction. Pieced together by hand, eight to ten times the gross amount of material is needed to create each mosaic. Each mosaic is drawn on 3/4" plywood and an epoxy adhesive is applied to the board on the day before the placement of stone begins. Additional epoxy is placed on the board and each piece of marble to create a bond between the two epoxy surfaces and the adjoining pieces of marble. Once the entire mosaic is laid, the surface is machine polished with a water and marble dust solution. The mosaic is then transported to the site and placed in the floor, where it is ground and leveled with the surrounding surfaces. Using over 150 different colors of marble from around the world, the large stone slabs are sliced with a diamond edged cutting wheel into similarly shaded pieces that are then cut into smaller pieces for more precise color matching.

The mosaic entitled Jacob's Ladder which is located outside of the Grand Lodge Room, over five square feet of marble was needed to get enough "blond" marble for Jacob's hair. This Mosaic contains in excess of 120,000 pieces of hand cut marble and took over 1,500 hours to create the 8' x 10' masterpiece. Santo Navarria of Phoenix, Maryland was commissioned by the Grand Masonic Lodge of Maryland to create the marble mosaics in this building. Mr. Navarria is one of only three traditionally trained mosaicists in the country, and the last member of an eleven generation family of mosaic artisans.

The Monumental Stair leads to the upper level of the building. The stained glass window at the top of the stair, although simple by design is ornate in Masonic definition. The window contains the jewels of the principal lodge officers as well as the jewel of a Past Grand Master.

UPPER LEVEL                     

The upper level contains the offices of the Most Worshipful Grand Master & the Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master. The doors of the G.M. office are made from solid face carved Honduran Mahogany.

CORINTHIAN ROOM         

The Grand Lodge Room is the ceremonial meeting room of the Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Maryland, which holds its Annual Communications and Semi-Annual Communications in this 600 seat auditorium. This room has 640 lights both in the ceiling and walls. The room is similar in character to the Corinthian Room in the Lodge on North Charles Street, but is only one third the size of this room. The intricate design has few historical references, so the creation of the room's decor became a collaborative effort led by the Architect, with the input of the Owner, Craftsmen, and Builder that continued throughout the project. The ceiling is supported by nine steel scissor trusses. Though the room is approximately 8,000 square feet, there are over 24,000 square feet of drywall surface area in the ceiling coffers, which is braced by over 12 miles of steel framing and 16,000 linear feet of hanger wire. The carved moldings are made of fiber impregnated plaster, which make them 30% lighter than conventional plaster moldings. The modified plaster formula also accelerated the curing process, which allowed finish applications to occur several months earlier that would have been the case with normal plaster. Faux marble and mahogany finishes were painted by hand in this room and throughout the building. The marbleized columns and capitals are fiberglass, to minimize the load requirements of the floor system.

Over 30 pounds of gold leaf was applied by hand to the ceiling in this Grand Lodge Room and the oldest worker on the ceiling was 28 years old. Many of the ornamental embellishments were designed and approved at the job site by the Architect and Owner. It took 10 months to build the Grand Lodge Room, which included 11 weeks to apply the gold, faux and paint finishes. The carpet is the largest single piece of carpet produced by Couristan. It is 30ft. wide and 82ft. long. The carpet is 100% wool from India. The center carpet section was woven on a 5 story vertical loom in England while the weavers worked on a scaffold. It took 4 months to make the carpet and 1 month to ship. Rather than having the conventionally dyed wool, the different colors of wool were sewn into the jute to create the design.

The Grand Master's Chair is carved with lion heads and clawed feet, winged arms and scrolls. It is reserved for the Grand Lodge and other momentous events. It was made prior to 1910. On October 20, 1926, The Mayor of Baltimore borrowed this chair to be used by Queen Marie of Romania "the first reigning monarch ever to visit Baltimore."