Wakefield Freemasons of all six craft lodges and other side orders have held their meetings, practiced ritual and entertained visitors in the Masonic Hall at Zetland Street.
The original Victorian red brick building with stone facings was built in 1880 by the Wakefield Lodge for a reputed cost of £300, a sizeable sum in those days. WBro. J.Matthewman, a past master of Sincerity Lodge No.1019, describes the occasion in his book Masonic Addresses of T.W. Trew J.P.
“A Lodge was opened in the music saloon, Wood Street, Bro. J Hartley W.M. 495 presiding. The other chairs were filled by officers from the Wakefield Lodges and WBro. J Matthewman (Dep Prov G.M.) was received.
It is not unreasonable to suppose that there were 150 people present, including visitors from Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, Brighouse, Mirfield, Pontefract, Barnsley, Sheffield, Rotherham and from the provinces of Kent, Lancashire and Durham.
The Brethren marched in procession in due order and precedence to the site of the building in Zetland Street where the corner stone was there laid by Dep. Prov. G.M. WBro Tew.”
The event is commemorated in an inscription on the foundation stone of the masonic hall.
For many years afterwards the building, with extensions and improvements added from time to time, served its purpose admirably. In November 1946, the Brethren assented to a proposal made by Wakefield Lodge, the original owners of the Masonic Hall, that the Zetland Street premises should be in future subject to joint ownership and management by the 5 (now 6) Craft Lodges sharing its amenities.
This gave rise to the formation of the Masonic Hall Company (Wakefield Ltd) on which representatives of all the Lodges would sit. The MHC continues to run the building to this day.
