North Easton, Massachusetts

 

Oakes Ames Memorial Hall
- North Easton was designed by architect H.H. Richardson. Oakes Ames Memorial Hall was designed for the Freemason Lodge of North Easton. H.H. Richardson was a Freemason and built in the style of King Solomon's Temple from the specifications in the Bible.

Richardson built Solomon’s Temple according to the specs in the book of Kings. I looked up the building specs and applied the Hebrew long cubit. Memorial Hall is 60-by-20 cubits, the second level, the sanctuary, is 40-by-20 cubits and the attic, the holy of holies, is exactly 34-by-34 feet (20-by-20 cubits). Those exact dimensions replicate Solomon’s Temple. Most people think Solomon’s Temple was a single-story structure. No one knows for sure what the temple actually looked like, but the Bible says there was a winding staircase on the right side of the building. Richardson stacked the holy of holies directly above the sanctuary and connected them with a spiral staircase on the right side of the building. This masonic guide I found says that all masonic lodges should be true representations of Solomon’s Temple.

"The temple that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high" 1 Kings 6)

- 20 cubits is 34 feet, 60 cubits is 102 feet

"3 The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple." (1 Kings 6)


- 20 cubits wide (34') + 10 cubic extended porch = 51'
- "He made narrow windows high up in the temple walls." (1 Kings 6) ✔️
- "In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built." (1 Kings 6) ✔️
- "The entrance to the lowest floor was on the south side of the temple; a stairway led up to the middle level and from there to the third." (1 Kings 6) ✔️

Memorial Hall Attic

- "He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high." (1 Kings 6).
- the attic is exactly 20x20 cubits 34'x34'

The Richardson designed North Easton library is also in the style of King Solomon's Temple.

"The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east." (1 Kings 7).
- the molten sea is a reference to the zodiac. The zodiac is carved into the spiral staircase tower of memorial Hall.

Tower Zodiac

"The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third." (1 Kings 6)

- Memorial Hall has a winding staircase on the right side connecting the three floors.

Memorial Hall Sun Dial

"He erected the pillars at the portico of the temple. The pillar to the south he named Jakin[m] and the one to the north Boaz." (1 Kings 7)

Ames Free Library Entrance

Ames Free Library Entrance

"And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of acherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without." (1 Kings 6)

Ames Free Library Carved Cherubim

the rockery is the altar in front of the temple. God told Moses to build a ramp made of earth and uncut stone.

The Rockery

The Rockery



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