A Son of the Rock

One of the places we visited on West Dunbartonshire’s Open Day last September was the Masonic Lodge in Gilmour Street, Alexandria. It was originally built as the Ewing Gilmour Institute for Working Girls in 1888 but by 1915 it had become the “Bonhill and Alexandria St Andrew’s Royal Arch Lodge, No. 321.”

It’s fairly imposing from the outside (this is a stitch of two photos to get it all in):-

However the interior is amazing. Murals adorn the corridor’s walls. This one is above the entranceway:-

The paintings were all done by Harrington Mann and we were told the model for all the female figures was a girl from the school.

Corridor window. Note the 1888 on the run-off collector above the rone pipe to left:-

The main hall is impressive:-

Close-up on mural above fireplace and below clock:-

The hall has a hammerbeam roof:-

There was a craft sale on that day. I had to drape back some of the items for sale in order to photograph the Lodge’s Roll of Honour:-