Description du lieu patrimonial

The Kalso Masonic Hall is located at 301 A Avenue in Kaslo, British Columbia, at the corner of A Avenue and Third Street. It is a two-storey wooden frame structure.

Valeur patrimoniale

The Kaslo Masonic Hall has historic and social value for being the oldest wooden Masonic Hall in use in British Columbia. It is a two-storey wooden frame structure built for local merchants, the Green brothers, as a replacement for their earlier store destroyed by fire. Local tax records first included the new building in 1894.

The Kaslo Masonic Hall has social value for the strong relationship between Kaslo's prominent citizens (particularly mayors, councillors, and busineness men) and Masonic Lodge #25. Masonic Lodge #25 received its charter in 1895, and in 1896 entered a lease agreement for the second floor. This space was then furnished as a Lodge room, which remains largely unchanged. Its Lodge room has held meetings in 10 months of each year since 1897. The second story was added in 1897 at a cost of $1,200 for the purpose of a Masonic Lodge room, the builder was also the first Worshipful Master of Kaslo Lodge No. 25, Mr. D.C. McGregor - a builder of many prominent buildings in Kaslo at the time. In 1938 the building was acquired by the Lodge, when Henry Giegerich of the then Byers, Green and Giegerich company passed over the ownership of the building to the Masons, and it is today the property of the Kaslo Masonic Holding Society.

The building is valued as a familiar landmark dating from Kaslo's early years. The physical form of the building, particularly the Lodge room, are valued for their near original state and continous use. The building is in good condition, and although the exterior is covered by synthetic siding its overall form is retained. It is still in its original state and has been in regular use since its founding. The building was also the site of the first Kaslo Post Office, which was in the back of the building.

The historic place is also valued for being symbolic of the wartime relocation of Japanese-Canadians to Kaslo and other interior communities. This is represented by the practices of Dr. Shimo Takahara and the dentist Dr. Banno, who remained in Kaslo and practiced in the lower floor of the Masonic Hall for several years.

Éléments caractéristiques

Elements that define the character of the Kaslo Masonic Hall include the:

- building's size and form and its very visible street corner location
- well-preserved second storey Lodge room and its interior arrangement
- large exterior Masonic emblem on the north face of the building, overlooking the adjacent street corner