Freemasons plan flats for Stopford Road site

Freemasons plan flats for Stopford Road site

Under the plans, the caretaker’s home to the rear of the temple would be demolished to make way for five one-bedroom, and one, two-bedroom flats.

The Provincial Grand Master of Jersey’s Freemasons, Kenneth Rondel, said that due to the age of the Masonic Temple in Stopford Road, it cost the organisation about £2,500 in annual maintenance. If the plans are given the go-ahead, the flats would become rental accommodation.

‘This type of building requires a great deal of maintenance and that creates a burden for us,’ he said. ‘If we can help to generate income to maintain the building, that will help us a great deal.’

The planning application also includes proposals for a new kitchen, stores, meeting room and a lift in the main building.

The Jersey Masonic Temple sits on the corner of Stopford Road and Oxford Road and was completed in 1844. It is a grade 2 listed building that was designed by local architect Thomas Gallichan and built by De La Mare, Benest and Pirouet. It is a meeting place for the more than 600 Freemasons who belong to the Provincial Grand Lodge of Jersey.

‘We are exploring the possibility of a small development which is in keeping with the building so we can offer some accommodation to the public, which will help to ease the need for homes in St Helier,’ Mr Rondel said.

The temple, the only one of its kind in the Island, has been extended and modernised over the years, but the old building retains its original layout and most of the detail, although some had to replicated after the Liberation as Freemasons were persecuted by the Nazi regime.

Many items were smashed or burned on site, while more valuable objects were taken to Berlin and used in an anti-Masonic exhibition.

The temple was subject to a £50,000 upgrade eight years ago.

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