Many of us often dream of leaving something to our posterity—something that will last long after we are gone. Few of us have the ability or the opportunity. Ill. Roland Goucher “Tip” Harrison, 33°, was one man who had both. Ill. Harrison had served 12 years as a draftsman when he joined Frank Wetherell to form an architectural partnership in 1925. That same year, the Des Moines Scottish Rite Bodies were selecting a site for a new building.

Des Moines Scottish Rite Masonic Center

A number of architectural firms were contacted regarding the project, including the newcomers Wetherell and Harrison. Surpris-ingly, they were selected to design the new Temple. The process began with committee meetings deciding what facilities were wanted in the new Temple. Ill. Harrison prepared the structural design, and Wetherell tended to details like molded ceilings, carved woodwork, and the Masonic symbols on the walls of the auditorium.

Visits were made to St. Louis, Missouri, to see their new Scottish Rite Temple and to the House of the Temple in Washington, D.C. Brother Harrison designed the tall columns in front of the Des Moines Temple. Made of several pieces of Indiana Bedford limestone stacked on top of each other, each column appears to be one monolith. These columns were replicated in the auditorium where they were finished in a process known as scagliola by craftsmen who worked for several months hand rubbing each column to provide the appearance of solid marble.

Three-dimensional Masonic symbols from the First to the Thirty-third Degree were produced by Wetherell and a team of plaster craftsman who cast them and later attached them to the ceiling of the Thirty-third Degree Room of the Temple. The same process was used in the auditorium where the central Thirty-third Degree symbol is nearly four feet in circumference.
When the project was completed in 1927, one of the members of the building committee went to Harrison’s office and explained how he had some doubts about Harrison’s ability when they began, but upon viewing the finished product, he was very impressed and would be happy to recommend Harrison and his firm to anyone who needed architectural services.

Ill. Roland G. “Tip” Harrison, 33°

The Wetherell and Harrison firm went on to design six or more public school buildings in Des Moines as well as the national headquarters for an insurance company and the national headquarters of the Philanthropic Educational Organization for Women. The latter organization, which was started in 1869, now has 245,000 members worldwide. Brother Harrison’s final major project was the Scottish Rite Park Retirement Res-idence, a 12-story edifice in Des Moines, Iowa.

Ill. Harrison was Master of Kadosh in Des Moines in 1958, served on the Board of Trustees for the Des Moines Scottish Rite Bodies for 18 years, and was Chairman Emeritus of the Advisory Conference. At the time of his death in February 1988, he was 99 years young. Ill. Roland “Tip” Harrison, 33°, used his talents and seized opportunities to fulfill his dream, thus leaving behind more than one grand edifice that will serve generations to come.

 

Donald E. Lavender is a former Secretary Registrar (1974–1979) of the Des Moines Scottish Rite Bodies and is now retired from the City of Des Moines Engineering Department.
Contact: 2913 49th St. Des Moines, Iowa 50310. E-mail: donlav@juno.com