Reconstruction Awards: The Masonic Temple

At the time of its completion, in 1928, the eight-story Masonic Temple in Glendale, Calif., was the city’s second-tallest building. In 1997, the property was listed in the local Historic Registry but remained dormant for nearly three decades. When the community got wind that Caruso Affiliated, the building’s owner, was planning a major overhaul, the first inclination was to call for the temple to be restored to something resembling its original use.

Working with the city and the community, Caruso was able to secure approvals to convert the temple to office space for its primary tenant, CBRE. Those approvals limited the restorative scope of this project to the Art Deco exterior. The team suspended a new eighth-floor mezzanine and added 18 9x15-foot windows (more than 2,430 sf of glazed fenestration) to the north, south, and west façades.

The Building Team used the temple’s original wooden trusses to create a 26-foot-high workspace that opens up the top two floors.

PROJECT SUMMARY 

Bronze Award Winner | Glendale, Calif.

Building Team: Gensler (submitting firm, architect); Caruso Affiliated (owner); Page & Turnbull and Spectra (historic preservation consultants); Structural Focus (SE); Davidovich & Associates (ME); WE O’Neil Construction (GC).

Details: 58,210 sf. Construction cost: $16.2 million. Construction time: April to December 2015. Delivery method: Design-bid-build.