Masonic Temple No. 25

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Masonic Temple No. 25
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Location:	Tampa, Florida United States
Built/Founded:	1928
Added to NRHP:	September 11, 1986

The Masonic Temple No. 25 is a historic site in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is located at 508 East Kennedy Boulevard. On September 11, 1986, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

This building is the fourth to house Hillsborough Lodge No. 25, F&AM, since it was founded in 1850.

The building was completed in 1928, and was designed by a group of architects who were themselves members of the Freemasonic Fraternity. They donated their design to the Lodge. It is reported that they used architectural elements from three different Italian cathedral buildings in designing this edifice.

Hillsborough Lodge currently has the largest membership of any Lodge in the State of Florida, with over 1200 subscribing members. It operates under a Charter from the Grand Lodge of Florida, F&AM.

Hillsborough Lodge, the organization, enjoys a unique historical connection with Hillsborough High School of Tampa. The original Lodge Building was also the original home of Hillsborough High School, the first High School in the County, because the Lodge rented the ground floor of its building to the School Board of Hillsborough County for the sum of $1 per year.

The Masonic Temple building is considered an outstanding example of Italian Renaissance architecture in America, and contributes to the architectural diversity of Tampa, since the city also houses the former Tampa Bay Hotel building, now H. B. Plant Hall of the University of Tampa. The Tampa Bay Hotel building is considered the premier example of Moorish architecture in the Western Hemisphere and its onion domes are sometimes used as an iconic symbol of the City of Tampa.