The Progress of Decorative Art – Lodge St. Mark, February 1856

An article on page four of The Glasgow Herald, on Wednesday the 27th of February, 1856, reads:

 

“THE PROGRESS OF DECORATIVE ART – LODGE ST. MARK.

 

In the lectures and instructions which for many years have formed

part of the business of the monthly communications of the Lodge St.

Mark, architecture and the fine arts have held a prominent place;

nor have they been behind in their illustration. When they acquired

their present premises, consisting of a goodly-sized second floor and

attics, near the head of Buchanan Street, they threw the front suite of

rooms into one, elevated the ceiling with a graceful cove, at the expense

of a portion of the front attic, and prepared a comfortable ‘adjacent’

store kitchen and dwelling-house for their ‘Tyler.’ The hall, capable of

accommodating fully a hundred members, was disposed according to

masonic principle, and adorned with a simple grace and elegance that

was the subject of general admiration with the numerous visiting

brethren who from time to time had the privilege of harmonising

within its walls, and made it the pattern on which other masonic halls

in this province were subsequently constructed.

On Monday afternoon last it was the scene of a festive meeting of the

trustees and office-bearers of the property and lodge, under the

presidency of the R. W. Master, Brother Huggins, on the occasion of

its being re-opened after undergoing an entire and most substantial

re-decoration, in a style of rich but graceful and harmonious ornamentation,

which it would not be easy to improve upon, and which reflects the highest

credit on the taste and artistic skill of Brother Hair, of Messrs. Hugh Bogle

& Co. The walls are formed into pannels of deep crimson in oak imitation

framing, margined with green and gold, the field strewed with rose, shamrock,

thistle, and star, in gold, and the corners enriched with most beautiful forms

and colours. The mouldings of the cornice are also chastely stencilled, and

touched up with gold, and the ceiling, a pale cerulean, delicately clouded and

starred in a most effective manner. The creature comforts were excellently

attended to by Mr. McLean of the Globe, and the meeting proved a very

agreeable one.”