From WBro Damien, Editor Devotion News, Booking Manager Ringwood and Collingwood Masonic Centres

Our 2017 Installation was held at the Prahran Masonic Centre. Located in the middle of a trendy inner city suburb known for shopping and entertainment strips such as Chapel and Greville Streets, Prahran has long been a place to go & a place to be seen. So is it with Freemasons; many lodges now use the building and, once Sandringham closes in December 2017, Prahran Masonic Centre is likely to be one of the largest lodge rooms left and still used in Victoria after the earlier demise of the Dallas Brooks Centre in 2015.

Masonic Wardens Chairs at Prahran

Senior Warden's Chair at the PMC

Junior Warden's Chair at the PMC

We have seen many Masonic buildings being sold off by their owners. More than falling numbers of Freemasons, the cause is often a poor outcome to the equation; income minus expenses = surplus, with the falling income and surpluses not being able to meet rising expenses. I’ve long been an advocate of focusing on increasing income from external users rather than from the falling number of Lodges which generally inhabit such buildings, but cast your eye over the expenses of such a building and putting large maintenance projects aside, there is one item which is putting a huge pressure on the continuation of most urban Masonic Centres; it’s tax.

The Victorian Land Tax Act 1877 was designed to break up large holdings of land and make it available for wider use. The Land Tax Act 1910 saw a tax on the unimproved value of land introduced and its been with us ever since. Readers might remember the media covering the businesses which closed around 2008 with the removal of the limit of 50% to the increase of Land Tax bills; it can be a tax which is hard to meet if your use is not maximizing income.

As the price of property in Melbourne continues to rise, looking forward, you don’t have to be Nostradamus to see more of our historic buildings will fall victim to land tax. Certainly, relief from it would see a sizable amount of funds freed to maintain and improve our centres, not just for Freemasons, but also the other communities to whom many of us open our doors to. Lack of maintenance of our buildings has long been an issue, but such maintenance can only take place once this tax is paid. For many, paying Land Tax is in itself a struggle. No doubt, given its size and location, Prahran Masonic Centre’s bill would be expected to be astronomical. 

Lodge rent of $300 per meeting is regarded by many as expensive. However for a building value at $4 million, five lodges meeting 11 times a year at $290 per meeting will see a surplus of $954 per year after paying land tax. Not much to meet other taxes such as Council Rates, Fire Levies and the like, that’s before we start putting some paint on the wall or get a plumber in to clear a blocked drain - and assumes each of those lodges is not another Order meeting only five times a year  in Odd or Even months.

This math explains one of the great drivers of Lodges into new high rise buildings with fixed commercial tenancies – and the death of historic Centres. Land Tax is designed to see land exploited for its highest use, yet this is not possible when we allow a historic low rise Masonic Centre to stand. Unless we start to do something about it, Land Tax might see many centres, including our own at Gipps Street, doomed. Some, like Emulation Hall in Canterbury have been saved by new owners who describe that building as a “grand and exotic building…a valuable piece of Victoria’s history.” Although the Lodge room has been stripped, much of the fabric remains – including the fascinating and distinctive facade which has been lovingly restored by enlightened owners with an appreciation for heritage architecture that many Freemasons seem to lack. In a Herald Sun article, heritage architect Nigel Lewis described Canterbury Masonic Centre as  “.. a rare Victorian example of the Egyptian Revival style and freemasonry’s link to ancient Egypt.” “It reflects both the discovery of Tutankhamen’s tomb in 1922 and the return of Australian soldiers from World War 1 with Egyptian objects displaying such motifs as the scarab and winged disc…”. Of course, think of the building’s profit and loss, a decade of land tax relief would go a long way to contributing to the renovation the now sold Emulation Hall. While at least we can be grateful the building still stands and its exterior has been restored, in our hands, the historic interior would not have been lost.

Prahran Masonic Centre - side elevation

The Prahran Masonic Temple, Land Tax casts a dark shadow on the future of such buildings

Freemasonry is an apolitical organization, yet perhaps we need to start approaching government, less rising tax bills sees the death of more historic buildings like those in Prahran and Collingwood ?

The list of buildings in Melbourne which have already succumbed to the lesser number of Freemasons unable to meet expenses and the rise of their buildings expenses, particularly land tax, is already too long. Further, even a building like Collingwood Masonic Centre with its external hirers, or Prahran with its commercial tenancies will eventually fall victim to land tax – a tax designed to pressure owners into the highest use of land – something incompatible with preserving the fabric of historic buildings and historic lodge rooms.

Owners of Masonic Buildings need to check they are receiving a Land Tax Bill in accordance to Section 73 of the Land Tax Act 2005, however more than that, rather than letting more buildings slowly being strangled by Tax, perhaps it’s time we see if there is any opportunities to see our Tax burden reduced or removed ?

(Disclaimer - the writer is not legally qualified nor an accountant. Parties need to make their own investigations and the above is not to be construed and commercial or legal advice).

Prahran Masonic Temple was completed in 1924 at the cost of about £15,000. The money was raised by subscription to the The United Southern Masonic Hall PTY LTD. There were ten directors which included RWBro H Blashki. The architect was Bro G F Gibbons. The first Lodge to meet in the new building was South Yarra Lodge, as reported in the Prahran Telegraph on 17 October 1924 with The Argus reporting on 26 August 1924 the building was “approaching completion” and the Hall Company being formed by City of Prahran, South Yarra, Windsor and Hawksburn Lodges.