Although their street addresses suggest otherwise, these two fraternal temples (one could say fraternal twins) stand adjacent to each other, providing a wonderful lesson in architectural family values by displaying varieties of the same classical genes.
The smaller sibling, the Elks Club, is, indeed, a temple, with a pedimented, giant-order Corinthian portico. Behind the portico's deep embrasure, an expansive cantilevered secondfloor balcony provides a viewing platform. At the taller Masonic Temple, two stories serve as a base for a three-story, distyle in antis Doric portico that is something of a sham. Three-quarter columns attached to the facade serve simply as a decorative screen. An even more unorthodox arrangement of two additional stories above a classical pediment is explained by the fact that they are a 1928 addition. The same Columbus,