From
WBro Damien, Editor Devotion News, Booking Manager Ringwood and
Collingwood Masonic Centres
Above, panoramic photograph of
the upper cavernous and historic Prahran Masonic Lodge Room
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.

Section 73 of the Land Tax Act 2005 allows
concessional tax rate of 0.375% for club land held by a Not for Profit for
several purposes, including “social, cultural, (and) recreational”. This does
not offer an exemption, as enjoyed by friendly societies, charities, outdoor
recreation, churches and famers (etc), however I would expect many Masonic
Centres would be paying according to the provisions of Section 73. I’ve just read the Act for the first time,
and I note Section 95 (1) established a Land Tax Hardship Relief Board. Perhaps
that’s something to keep in mind and something to ask about? Certainly a NFP
holding entity (I prefer an Association) is essential to managing a Land Tax
bill
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
Land Tax and significant land prices are a material
factor in why not a single Masonic Building is still operating within the City
of Boroondara. Price creep and corresponding land tax rise is likely to hit
more centres in the coming decades, with Kew, Canterbury, Camberwell, Box Hill
and Blackburn all consolidated into a more viable high rise office block in Box
Hill. We’ve moved out of the City of Boroodara to Whitehorse, but if you’ve
noticed the land prices in Box Hill recently, this problem will follow us long
into the future and further and further out into the suburbs. For us, the commercial
value of a Masonic Centre has no utility to the lodges meeting in it, indeed it
becomes a burden as it rises and so does our land tax bill. More than
investments, our buildings stand as part of a long cultural heritage and the
explicit goal of a Committee of Management like that of Collingwood Masonic
Centre is never to see it sold. The value of the property is irrelevant, until
the Land Tax bill arrives.
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.
Ceiling Mural in the dining room