Temple of the Scottish Rite

The buil­ding, de­si­gned by John Rus­sell Pope who also de­si­gned the Na­tio­nal Ar­chi­ves and the Jef­fer­son Me­mo­rial, was con­struc­ted bet­ween 1911 and 1915. It was built to head­quar­ter the Su­preme Coun­cil of the Sou­thern Ju­ris­dic­tion of the 33rd De­gree of the An­ci­ent and Ac­cep­ted Rite of Free­ma­sonry. An in­ter­na­tio­nal fra­ter­nal order, the Ma­sons have clai­med a num­ber of past Pre­si­dents, such as Ge­orge Wa­shing­ton and Harry Tru­man, as mem­bers. Pope used the tomb of King Mau­so­lus at Ha­li­car­nas­sus, one of the seven won­ders of the an­ci­ent world, as his model for the Temple. Outs­ide, guar­ding the temple doors, is a pair of mo­nu­men­tal sphin­xes that re­pre­sent wis­dom and power.