If you haven't visited this landmark you need to add it to your list of things in OK to see.
I'll post some pics and info from the website and then a few higher resolution pics of my own.
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Each room in the main part of the Temple was built as a re-creation of some important period of architectural history. The artistic motif of each room is based on careful study, which allows the building to serve not only as a meeting place for the Scottish Rite, but also as a reminder of the artistic styles and beliefs of various peoples in history.
The Atrium serves as the great gathering hall of the Temple and was built in the style of the ancient Roman Empire. The room is 190 feet long and 52 feet wide. The floor is of Tennessee marble and the marble steps at each end of the hall and the wainscoting come from Vermont. The dark marble used for accent is Italian Verde. The Tetragrammatons accenting the floor enclose the Hebrew name of Deity. A large stained glass skylight creates a ceiling centerpiece that bathes the room with natural light.
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The 18th Century style of Robert Adam is particularly accented in the Rose Room, with ornately painted and decorated furniture and ornamental plaster with Greek and Roman motifs. The room is light and comfortable, with soft shades of rose setting off the monochrome and blue stained glass windows. The stained glass window along the South wall was moved from the old Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie to its present location when our larger Temple was built. The ceiling medallion in this room is a large oval, typical of the Adam style, and presents a magnificent centerpiece for the overall grandeur of the room.
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The Italian Renaissance, with its secular and aesthetic influence, is depicted in the Italian Lounge. Originally a smoking lounge for members, the carpet features the most complex design of any in the building. The four tables of Italian Verde marble were imported from Italy and are copies of tables popular during the Renaissance era. The ornamental plaster ceiling is among the most elaborately carved and coffered in the Temple. The portraits are those of Past Sovereign Grand Commanders of the Supreme Council. The Italian Lounge looks down over the Atrium and makes a wonderful visual tie to the social promenades outside the balcony of the Auditorium.
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The Library of the Temple is in the severe Gothic style of the 13th Century. The rich, beautiful oak cabinetry and glass-fonted book presses were crafted on site. Quotations from classical literature adorn the upper walls, and the room contains many works of general Masonic information. The collection is secured by donations from members and friends.
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The Blue Room, situated in the South end of the Temple, is also of the Adam style and was created to provide an aesthetic balance with the Rose Room at the North end of second floor. The room serves as an idealized Blue Lodge room, and is used for meetings of the four administrative lodges which comprise the Scottish Rite Bodies. The hand-woven rug in this room is eighteen feet wide and forty-five feet long, on which is placed a Hebrew altar, situated in the center of the room. The three large windows in this room are stained glass and depict the three ages of man--youth, manhood, and old age. The windows were created by an Italian artisan and are among the most rare of any in the Temple. As in the Rose Room, a large oval ornamental plaster centerpiece adorns the ceiling.
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The Crystal Room is the largest and most elegant of the artistic reception rooms in the Temple. Designed after the Adam period (18th Century) of English Architecture, the theme is light and spacious, with high windows and leaded glass mirrors typical of the Robert Adam style. The chandeliers are Czechoslovakian crystal; the hardware on the doors, triple-plated gold. The rug is the largest of the artistic rugs in the Temple and contains yarns in 23 different colors, hand-woven from a single loom. It weighs 1,000 pounds. The Wurlitzer Corporation manufactured the grand piano to match the designs on the large mahogany table centering the room.
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The Assyrian architecture represented here is of the period about 700 BC The chandeliers suspended from the ceiling depict fire pots which were originally used in the Assyrian homes for heating and lighting. The primary fuel burned was peat, and the upper walls of the room are stained to suggest the smoke and soot from the fires. The design motif of the Assyrian sphinx is found on the fire pots and at the end of the room. The wall sphinxes represent Nergal, the god of the hunt, while the sphinxes on the fire pots represent the god of war. Double headed horses support the consoles which uphold the ceiling beams. The vinyl backed doors and transoms are studded with brass tacks and are reproductions of the leather backed doors of the period.
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Designed as representative of the rooms unearthed at Pompeii which were covered by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, circa 79 AD The Pompeiian Room is accented by detailed artwork on the friezes and columns, done freehand, making it one of the most expensive in the Temple to complete. Benches and furnishings are wood reproductions of originals, which were usually made of ivory or onyx. The carpets in this room, as in all of the Temples artistic rooms, were hand-woven by the Donegal Rug Company in Ireland, and are wool's mixed with camel hair.
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The design motif of the Egyptian Room is patterned after the period of the 4th Dynasty, about 3700 BC It was inspired by the Thebian Version of the Book of the Dead. The auditorium seats 300 and has a wide apron and fully equipped stage. The designs were all painted in the Egyptian manner, by hand, grinding clay pigments to a fine powder and then mixing the clay with egg whites to make a tempera. The ceiling is blue and represents the celestial sky. All of the icons depicted in the ornamental plaster, or hand painted on the walls and columns, represent different goddesses and aspects of the soul, as typically symbolized in Egyptian tomb paintings. The proscenium curtain was from the original 1899 Scottish Rite Temple stage.
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The Main Auditorium is the heart of the Temple, equipped for the full staging of the 29 degrees, or plays, of the Scottish Rite. The stage contains 118 operating scene drops, all hand-painted by artists who specialized in stage scenery paintings of the late 19th Century era. The auditorium is Roman in design, with the high wall and ceiling paintings among the most beautiful in the Temple. The stage is one hundred feet wide and fifty three feet deep. There are 1,760 fixed seats in the auditorium, located on three levels. The great arch of the balcony, when built, was the largest unsupported cement arch in the world. The Kimball pipe organ in this room is one of only two concert organs ever manufactured by the Kimball Company, and is comprised of five registers, sixty-seven ranks, and 5,376 pipes. The pipes are located in the arch above the stage. The instrument is a world-class piece of art appraised in excess of $1 million. The ceilings contain decorative lined acoustic domes, typical of European opera houses, which provide superb sound quality to the room.
I'll post some pics and info from the website and then a few higher resolution pics of my own.
[Broken External Image]
Each room in the main part of the Temple was built as a re-creation of some important period of architectural history. The artistic motif of each room is based on careful study, which allows the building to serve not only as a meeting place for the Scottish Rite, but also as a reminder of the artistic styles and beliefs of various peoples in history.
The Atrium serves as the great gathering hall of the Temple and was built in the style of the ancient Roman Empire. The room is 190 feet long and 52 feet wide. The floor is of Tennessee marble and the marble steps at each end of the hall and the wainscoting come from Vermont. The dark marble used for accent is Italian Verde. The Tetragrammatons accenting the floor enclose the Hebrew name of Deity. A large stained glass skylight creates a ceiling centerpiece that bathes the room with natural light.
[Broken External Image]
The 18th Century style of Robert Adam is particularly accented in the Rose Room, with ornately painted and decorated furniture and ornamental plaster with Greek and Roman motifs. The room is light and comfortable, with soft shades of rose setting off the monochrome and blue stained glass windows. The stained glass window along the South wall was moved from the old Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie to its present location when our larger Temple was built. The ceiling medallion in this room is a large oval, typical of the Adam style, and presents a magnificent centerpiece for the overall grandeur of the room.
[Broken External Image]
The Italian Renaissance, with its secular and aesthetic influence, is depicted in the Italian Lounge. Originally a smoking lounge for members, the carpet features the most complex design of any in the building. The four tables of Italian Verde marble were imported from Italy and are copies of tables popular during the Renaissance era. The ornamental plaster ceiling is among the most elaborately carved and coffered in the Temple. The portraits are those of Past Sovereign Grand Commanders of the Supreme Council. The Italian Lounge looks down over the Atrium and makes a wonderful visual tie to the social promenades outside the balcony of the Auditorium.
[Broken External Image]
The Library of the Temple is in the severe Gothic style of the 13th Century. The rich, beautiful oak cabinetry and glass-fonted book presses were crafted on site. Quotations from classical literature adorn the upper walls, and the room contains many works of general Masonic information. The collection is secured by donations from members and friends.
[Broken External Image]
The Blue Room, situated in the South end of the Temple, is also of the Adam style and was created to provide an aesthetic balance with the Rose Room at the North end of second floor. The room serves as an idealized Blue Lodge room, and is used for meetings of the four administrative lodges which comprise the Scottish Rite Bodies. The hand-woven rug in this room is eighteen feet wide and forty-five feet long, on which is placed a Hebrew altar, situated in the center of the room. The three large windows in this room are stained glass and depict the three ages of man--youth, manhood, and old age. The windows were created by an Italian artisan and are among the most rare of any in the Temple. As in the Rose Room, a large oval ornamental plaster centerpiece adorns the ceiling.
[Broken External Image]
The Crystal Room is the largest and most elegant of the artistic reception rooms in the Temple. Designed after the Adam period (18th Century) of English Architecture, the theme is light and spacious, with high windows and leaded glass mirrors typical of the Robert Adam style. The chandeliers are Czechoslovakian crystal; the hardware on the doors, triple-plated gold. The rug is the largest of the artistic rugs in the Temple and contains yarns in 23 different colors, hand-woven from a single loom. It weighs 1,000 pounds. The Wurlitzer Corporation manufactured the grand piano to match the designs on the large mahogany table centering the room.
[Broken External Image]
The Assyrian architecture represented here is of the period about 700 BC The chandeliers suspended from the ceiling depict fire pots which were originally used in the Assyrian homes for heating and lighting. The primary fuel burned was peat, and the upper walls of the room are stained to suggest the smoke and soot from the fires. The design motif of the Assyrian sphinx is found on the fire pots and at the end of the room. The wall sphinxes represent Nergal, the god of the hunt, while the sphinxes on the fire pots represent the god of war. Double headed horses support the consoles which uphold the ceiling beams. The vinyl backed doors and transoms are studded with brass tacks and are reproductions of the leather backed doors of the period.
[Broken External Image]
Designed as representative of the rooms unearthed at Pompeii which were covered by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, circa 79 AD The Pompeiian Room is accented by detailed artwork on the friezes and columns, done freehand, making it one of the most expensive in the Temple to complete. Benches and furnishings are wood reproductions of originals, which were usually made of ivory or onyx. The carpets in this room, as in all of the Temples artistic rooms, were hand-woven by the Donegal Rug Company in Ireland, and are wool's mixed with camel hair.
[Broken External Image]
The design motif of the Egyptian Room is patterned after the period of the 4th Dynasty, about 3700 BC It was inspired by the Thebian Version of the Book of the Dead. The auditorium seats 300 and has a wide apron and fully equipped stage. The designs were all painted in the Egyptian manner, by hand, grinding clay pigments to a fine powder and then mixing the clay with egg whites to make a tempera. The ceiling is blue and represents the celestial sky. All of the icons depicted in the ornamental plaster, or hand painted on the walls and columns, represent different goddesses and aspects of the soul, as typically symbolized in Egyptian tomb paintings. The proscenium curtain was from the original 1899 Scottish Rite Temple stage.
[Broken External Image]
The Main Auditorium is the heart of the Temple, equipped for the full staging of the 29 degrees, or plays, of the Scottish Rite. The stage contains 118 operating scene drops, all hand-painted by artists who specialized in stage scenery paintings of the late 19th Century era. The auditorium is Roman in design, with the high wall and ceiling paintings among the most beautiful in the Temple. The stage is one hundred feet wide and fifty three feet deep. There are 1,760 fixed seats in the auditorium, located on three levels. The great arch of the balcony, when built, was the largest unsupported cement arch in the world. The Kimball pipe organ in this room is one of only two concert organs ever manufactured by the Kimball Company, and is comprised of five registers, sixty-seven ranks, and 5,376 pipes. The pipes are located in the arch above the stage. The instrument is a world-class piece of art appraised in excess of $1 million. The ceilings contain decorative lined acoustic domes, typical of European opera houses, which provide superb sound quality to the room.
