A rather mundane question about Masonic architecture...?

Question

While not a conspirousy theorist, I'll admit that secret societies like the Freemasons do intrigue me. Lately, I've noticed that all of the older Masonic temples in my area are a) made of red brick and b) have round windows on the second floor. The brick is not surprising as it was once a very common building material in the area, but what is the significance of the round windows?

Answer 1

Not a feature I have ever noticed, the old Lodges here in the states don't seem to prevail in this feature. Maybe it's British thing, maybe it has to do with architectural style of the time, maybe even the same architect, hard to say, but there is no special meaning or significance to it.

Edit-

A little more thought on the matter leads me to believe it is an English thing, and here's why.

I don't know if it is still done, but in the past English Lodges had membership limits, 40 per Lodge if I recall. So in a medium sized U.S. City with 200 members they would have one large or maybe 2 smaller Lodges. In England a city with 200 Masons would require no less than 5 Lodges. So it would make sense as a matter of practicality that in order to have so many Lodges built there would be some degree of uniformity to their construction; common features, similar designs, etc.

It's a guess, but it makes sense given the local tradition, and the lack of intrigue such reasoning offers is rather more convincing of an actual explanation. The facts usually are quite mundane-sorry.

Answer 2

There is no 'code' for building a masonic temple, and there is nothing in any of the ritual that talks about having round windows so my guess is that this would be a regional feature rather than a masonic thing.

Answer 3

Freemasons aren´t "secret societies". Why don´t you look for one of the hundreds of freemasonry-related forums on the net and ask people there? It´s easy to find on google and many will be happy to explain.

Answer 4

Perhaps it was just a common architectural feature? I've seen plenty of non-Masonic red bricked homes that have round windows as well.