A Raleigh architectural landmark will soon open its doors for tours
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NCModernist will host tours of Grand Masonic Lodge in Raleigh on June 20.
- The 1958 AFAM headquarters is clad in Crab Orchard sandstone and uses terrazzo and marble.
- AFAM membership peaked in NC in 1981 at about 73,000; has fallen to 30,000 today.
Like many people who grew up in Raleigh, George Smart had for decades driven by the stone and glass Grand Masonic Lodge on Glenwood Avenue without ever stepping foot inside. Maybe more than most, Smart was curious about the building and its mid-century architecture.
So Smart approached the Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina to see if they would agree to host public tours of their building with his group, NCModernist, the Durham-based nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting modernist architecture.
The Masons, despite their reputation for secrecy, eagerly said yes. NCModernist is now selling timed tickets to tour the building on Saturday, June 20 (see details below).
“We take pride in this building, and we know its history,” said Matthew Robbins, the AFAM’s assistant grand secretary who holds a master’s degree in architecture from N.C. State University. “We know it’s important to the city. And we know that it also serves as a lasting example of modernism.”
The building is the state headquarters for the AFAM, one of two Masonic groups in North Carolina along with the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons. Both organizations carry on the traditions of Freemasonry, a fraternity founded by craftsmen who built castles and cathedrals in medieval Europe. The state’s oldest AFAM lodge was chartered in Wilmington in 1754.
The AFAM opened its new headquarters in 1958 just outside the city, after outgrowing the seven-story Masonic Temple on Fayetteville Street downtown. Wilmington architect Leslie Boney Sr. clad the building in Crab Orchard sandstone from Tennessee and used polished terrazzo and marble inside.
That transition from rough to smooth is symbolic, Robbins said.
“Analogous to how in the fraternity we’re taught to refine ourselves and break off the edges of rough stones so they fit better into a building,” he said.
While their rituals, handshakes and passwords may be for members only, Masons insist they are not a secret society. Their headquarters building has always been open to the public, Robbins said. In addition to administrative offices, it houses a museum and the group’s archives, with records dating back to the 18th century.
About 15 years ago, the group restored the building’s large meeting room, uncovering a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and bronze grillwork that echoes the compass in the Masonic symbol.
“Pound for pound, this is one of the most beautifully outfitted buildings in Raleigh,” Smart said. “You just don’t see this kind of stonework anymore. And with this beautiful renovation in the back, you’ve got all this light floating in now.”
The Masons hope to rent out their restored meeting room for events, Smart said.
“There could be a lot more interaction between the public and the building,” he said. “And we’re the kickoff event for that.”
The headquarters was built during the post-World War II boom years for Freemasonry, when men joined organizations to try to better themselves and their communities and, perhaps, just get out of the house. Membership in AFAM lodges has fallen in North Carolina from a peak of about 73,000 in 1981 to about 30,000 today. A map on the wall shows the locations of nearly 350 local lodges across North Carolina, as well as hundreds more than have closed or consolidated.
The Masonic headquarters never was a temple, the space where Freemasons hold meetings and ceremonies. When they left downtown, local lodges moved to the former Josephus Daniels mansion in the Hayes Barton neighborhood and added an auditorium that seated more than 200.
That building was demolished in 2021 after the city removed it from a list of historic properties because of Daniels’ use of his newspaper, The News & Observer, to promote segregation and urge the violent overthrow of the elected biracial government in Wilmington by white supremacists in 1898.
Tour information
NCModernist will host tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 20 at the Grand Lodge at 2921 Glenwood Ave. in Raleigh. VIP tickets cost $19.95 and allow entry at any time during the tour. General admission tickets allow entry at specific times and cost $14.95. For more information and to buy tickets, go to www.ncmodernist.org/masonic.
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 1:41 PM.
