Historic Dallas masonic hall will house immersive museum space

A striking building in downtown Dallas is ready for a new life as an artistic experience center and museum.

The new plans envisage a conversion of the 80-year-old former Masonic temple and its towering interior.

Los Angeles-based Impact Museums is transforming the building on South Harwood Street into what it calls a center for “next-generation immersive experiences that focus on important social issues.”

The 46,000-square-foot limestone building was renovated into what is now called The Block House as part of the 10-block redevelopment of the East Quarter on the east side of downtown. Owner Todd Interests presented the unique property to the office users.

The museum operator is part of the team that is organizing the immersive Van Gogh exhibition, which opens in Dallas in June. The presentation uses 300,000 cubic feet of surround video projections to recreate large-scale paintings. Visitors walk through the display.

The Van Gogh Immersive exhibit has been featured in about a dozen US cities and abroad. The Los Angeles show is so popular that it will be extended until next year.

Impact Museums is co-producing the show and is described as “a passionate team of creative entrepreneurs building the next generation of museums and experiences.”

Construction is scheduled to start this month to convert the former Masonic building into what is known as the BlockHouse Impact Museum in government planning documents. Dallas architect Omniplan is working on the project.

Officials at Block House building owner Todd Interests say formal announcement of the new museum is pending.

The Masonic Temple was built in 1941 and once housed meeting rooms for 6,000 Freemasons and 750 members of the Eastern Star.

The building cost $ 350,000 and was constructed in a modern style using stone, metal, and glass. It had an auditorium with 500 seats, five box rooms, a banquet hall, a library, lecture halls and offices. The exterior is made of Texas limestone 24 inches thick.

Todd Interests and his partner, JPMorgan Asset Management, bought the vacant Brotherhood Organization Hall in 2018 as part of the purchase of more than a dozen old buildings.

The properties – most built in the 1920s and 1930s – are being refreshed in the property developer East Quarter’s mixed-use development. Todd Interests is also building a 17-story office, commercial and residential building on the Jackson Street project.

The interior of the old Masonic building has a large open space.The interior of the old Masonic building has a large open space.(Steve Braun)

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