The big reveal

from Freemasonry Today - Issue 57 - Spring 2022

by UGLE

Comfort and joy

Above: the south gallery in 1933 and as it is now, restored to its Art Deco splendour

Transformations and treasures

Museum of Freemasonry Curator Mark Dennis talks us through the stunning renovation of the museum’s south gallery to its 1930s glory

Last summer we took the opportunity, with the help of UGLE’s maintenance staff and a specialist contractor, to transform the south gallery of the museum. As seen in this rare photograph (above left), this is how the space looked in the 1930s. Many of the items in the photograph are still in the collections and the larger cases remain in use, although upgraded with dimmable LED lights.

The museum first opened to the public in the early 1980s – before that it was for members only. Since then, we have held many different exhibitions here. Over the years, extra display cases have been added, some borrowed from other museums and others built by the in-house team in the 1970s. They made the gallery look a muddle and the windows were blocked up many years ago to show regalia and paintings. Compared with the north gallery created in 2016 and the Library, it was looking very tired.

In July, we got the go-ahead from UGLE, which was funding the specialist sanding and resealing of the floor. This was a big job. In just seven weeks, we removed 800 objects, scrapped 22 display cases and relocated 47 more. We opened up the window apertures, installed conservation blinds, restored the floor and put back nearly 200 carefully selected items with new captioning and carefully targeted LED lighting.

All the craftsmen of Freemasons’ Hall got involved with the works. Walls were painted and plastered, cases rewired, mouldings repaired and French polished and redundant wall fittings removed.

Everything was ready in time for around 3,000 people to see the result during Open House London in September. There were some surprises. The warm brown bands on the floor were made from a rare tropical hardwood, unlike the rooms around it where it was just a painted-on stain.

If you are a regular visitor, you may find the new look of the gallery surprising as it hasn’t appeared like this for nearly 90 years. First-time visitors tell us that spacing out the objects helps them to focus on what they are seeing, and that they find the space welcoming and bright.

The new positioning of the cases gives us full wheelchair access for the first time, which means we can now welcome all our visitors equally. We’ve added QR codes to some of our collection’s favourite videos and if you’ve already seen them you can now find all those objects on display.

Hanging on the stairs at the end of the gallery is a new acquisition. The tracing board of the Silurian Lodge, later inherited by the Lodge of the Marches, has just arrived from Ludlow where it has been held since the 1780s.

In the revised cases, we’ve themed items around simple captions and focused on the glass, ceramics and silver that were in the original gallery. Down the sides, we’ve brought out early aprons and regalia from overseas.

However, not everything has changed. The Sussex Plate, a huge table centrepiece given to commemorate the First Duke of Sussex’s silver jubilee as Grand Master, has pride of place, just as it has since 1933. We’ve also taken the opportunity to display some beautiful items that haven’t been seen for a while. This is only the beginning in the gallery, which is finally the beautiful, accessible and flexible space that we hoped to create.