- Lodge Manuherikia Kilwinning in Alexandra is for sale due to declining membership.
- Trustee Graeme Bell says members will move to Clyde-based Lodge Dunstan.
- The building, zoned residential and commercial, may be kept as a public hall.
For over a century, men arrived at Lodge Manuherikia Kilwinning, in Alexandra, by foot, horse and buggy and later by car. What went on inside is shrouded in mystery, but now the Otago lodge has thrown open its doors and has been placed on the market for sale.
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The lodge at 83 Tarbert Street is one of several converted or abandoned buildings with ties to the ancient and secret society that has long been haunted by conspiracy theories and claims that it controls the world from the shadows.
Its history stretches back to Lodge Mother Kilwinning, in Scotland, claimed by some to be the world’s oldest Masonic lodge. Reportedly, a member of Lodge Mother Kilwinning rode into Alexandra in the 1890s and set up Lodge Manuherikia Kilwinning.
Its slow decline is a story repeated around the country. The numbers no longer make sense, and members will soon move into rooms at the Clyde-based Lodge Dunstan. “We’re not closing down,” trustee Graeme Bell told OneRoof. “We’re just moving an asset, that’s all we’re doing.”
The vendors hope the hall, which was built more than 100 years ago, will continue as a public space. Photo / Supplied
The irony is that Lodge Manuherikia Kilwinning was set up because the Clyde branch of the Masons had too many members. “Lodge Dunstan’s our mother lodge,” Bell said. “They helped establish Lodge Manuherikia Kilwinning number 109, which is what we are.”
Bell added: “Why we’re selling the building is simply because we don’t have the membership structure that we used to have to be able to pay for maintenance and the rates. I joined in 1977, and we used to have over 100 members but now we’re down to 35. I’m 75 years of age, and I’m one of the younger ones.”
It’s not just Freemasonry that’s struggling with numbers, Bell said. “They’re all struggling. I go to Rotary here, and there used to be a lot of young people; now they’re all older people.”
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Bell told OneRoof that his father and grandfather were also Masons in Alexandra and that he had always loved the hand of friendship and tradition at the lodge. “It’s a very old‑fashioned institution that has a ritual they [all lodges] practice, and that has been happening for a long, long, long time. There’s been a tremendous amount of history in the hall and the masonic temple.”
Bell said the building would be deconsecrated, and he hoped that its new owners would keep it as a public hall. “It would be great if it could be used as a hall. But if it doesn’t and it’s pulled down, and there’s a new development, well, that’s progress, and you can’t stop progress.”
PGG Wrightson listing agent Mike Direen said the building was zoned residential and commercial, “and we are just checking to see whether it can be demolished. There is interest in both sectors. Both people who want to keep it as it is or use it as something else.”
One of three Masonic lodges built in Invercargill, the impressive temple-like building at 80 and 82 Forth Street is up for grabs. Photo / Supplied
The property is registered under the Historic Places Act 1980 and was designed by Broderick & Royd. Photo / Supplied
Former and current Freemason Lodges are up for grabs around the country for a wide range of prices. In Northland, a former lodge that was converted into a daycare centre has an RV of $485,000, while in Invercargill, an impressive Greek revival building with Doric columns has an RV of well over $1m.
If size isn’t your thing, a tidy but minimalist home in a former lodge is for sale at 9 Shore Street, in Andersons Bay, Dunedin.
One of the quirkiest lodges for sale is 6 Hill Road, Lumsden, Southland. The former Masonic Lodge of Lumsden was turned into a two-bedroom home by a local coffee roaster and a tattoo artist.
Kelly and Steve Taylor have owned the property for 17 years. They bought it from an antiques dealer, having chanced upon the listing while visiting friends in Arrowtown. “We walked into the building and thought, ‘This is us’,” they told OneRoof.
The interior of a former lodge at 9 Shore Street, in Andersons Bay, Dunedin. The home is for sale by negotiation. Photo / Supplied
The former Masonic lodge at 6 Hill Road, in Lumsden, Southland, was transformed into a two-bedroom home. Photo / Supplied
The house is full of character touches and reflects the owners’ remarkable artistic flair. Photo / Supplied
The couple took their time to get to know the community before launching their businesses. Steve now jokes that most of the local community has been tattooed by him. “People will travel if you’re a good, good artist, or if you’re good at any profession you do. People come and hunt you down. Look for you,” Steve says in a video interview with Southland District Council.
Kelly adds that after living in the big smoke, the move to Southland was a big change. “[But] it was not terrifying. We moved down here [with] the sense that we’d give it five years and see how we felt about the place.”
That turned into 14 years. Now the Taylors have decided to sell and move on. They hope that the buyers will embrace the home’s eclectic character. The two-bedroom home, which is on 1517sqm of land, is for sale by negotiation with Professionals agent Mescha Soper-Arthur.
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