House of the Temple (Scottish Rite headquarters and museum)

The House of the Temple at 1733 16th St NW was designed by architect John Russell Pope and completed in 1915 as the headquarters of the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction. The building contains a research library and a museum of Masonic artifacts and history, with portions of the collection accessible by appointment or during scheduled tours. Its monumental, temple-like appearance on 16th Street belies that much of the collection and archives are housed in areas not open for casual walk-in visits, making them relatively hard to find for typical tourists.