{"nrhp_refnum":"96001279","name":"Sterling Masonic Temple","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"111--113 W. 3rd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Sterling","county":"Whiteside County","state":"IL","lat":41.78790477500007,"lon":-89.69801133699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-11-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick Masonic lodge building at 111-113 West Third Street in Sterling, Whiteside County, Illinois, designed by architect George W. Ashby and dedicated on May 16, 1900, after a fire destroyed the earlier temple.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is architecturally significant as a Chateauesque lodge hall with a steep mansard roof, pinnacled dormers and a Gothic Revival lodge room. It is also significant in social history as a typical Masonic hall, whose layout kept the lodge room secluded on an upper floor while rented ground-floor and club space provided income.","narrative":"Built after a December 1898 fire nearly destroyed Sterling's earlier Masonic temple, this four-story brick lodge building on West Third Street was designed by Riverside architect George W. Ashby and dedicated in May 1900. Ashby reused the original stone foundation, first-story brick walls and parts of the second story to save costs, adding new walls and a new front facade. The Chateauesque exterior features a steep mansard roof, pinnacled dormers, stone buttresses, terra cotta griffins and a copper cornice. Inside, a two-story lodge room on the third floor has a Gothic-inspired hammer-beam ceiling, cherry woodwork and stained glass, and it is ringed by anterooms and a gallery for secrecy. The second floor first housed the Sterling Club, a social and civic group, until about 1918-1920, and the ground floor held shops. The building is significant for its architecture and as a typical example of Masonic hall design and social life. The lodge still occupies the upper floors.","period_of_significance":"1900, Criterion C; 1900-1946, Criterion A","architect_builder":"Ashby, George W., Architect","architectural_style":"Other: Chateauesque","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a Masonic lodge on the upper floors, with the first-floor store rented to an appliance dealer.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.316772-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/93/8942/28894293/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/96001279.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001279/fb3a334029-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96001279/fb3a334029-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sterling_Masonic_Temple.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sterling_Masonic_Temple.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28894293","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterling_Masonic_Temple","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7611442"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/whiteside-county/sterling-masonic-temple-96001279/"}