The Regular Meeting of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 for November 2022 will be held on Wednesday, 2 November 2020, 7:30 p.m. at Ashlar Masonic Temple.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.


The Regular Meeting of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 for November 2022 will be held on Wednesday, 2 November 2020, 7:30 p.m. at Ashlar Masonic Temple.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.
The Regular Meeting of Ashlar Lodge No. 3 for October 2022 will be held on Wednesday, 5 October 2020, 7:30 p.m. at Ashlar Masonic Temple.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.
Victoria-Columbia Lodge No.1 in Victoria has posted a very good video on YouTube entitled Freemasonry:: The Journey Begins! The video was made by the Grand Lodge of B.C. & Yukon.
Here is the video. We have also added it to our page on Becoming A Mason.
The next Regular Meeting of Ashlar Lodge, No. 3 will be held on 7 December 2016, 7:30 pm, at the Ashlar Masonic Temple, 101 Commercial Street, Nanaimo.
The meeting will feature a lecture by M.W.B. Stephen Godfrey.
The Installation of 2017 Officers will be held on Saturday, 17 December 2016 at 1 p.m., at the Ashlar Masonic Temple, 101 Commercial Street, Nanaimo. A Dinner will follow at 4 p.m.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.
The next Regular Meeting of Ashlar Lodge, No. 3 will be held on Wednesday, 7 September 2016 at 7:30 p.m. at the Ashlar Masonic Temple.
All Visiting Brethren are very welcome to attend.
The Occidental Hotel, 432 Fitzwilliam Street, was built in 1886. It was designed by Victoria architect John Teague, a member of Victoria-Columbia Lodge, No.1 and built by contractor Alfred Summerhayes, a member of Ashlar Lodge, No.3.
This landmark building is on the City of Nanaimo Heritage Building Register, which describes it as:
“The Occidental Hotel’s value resides in its role as a gateway building. Located at a prominent intersection, the building marks the western entrance to one of Nanaimo’s oldest commercial areas. The angled corner entry mirrors the entry on the building directly across the street and creates a visual funnel, reinforcing the impression of entering a new and distinct space. Tall, imposing and located at a prominent intersection, the Occidental Hotel is a highly visible landmark.
Built in 1886, the Occidental Hotel is very good example of Victorian Italianate architecture, one of the most popular 19th century styles in North America for a wide variety of building types, from houses and small apartment buildings, to commercial and institutional structures. The Occidental Hotel features the vertical proportions and tall, rounded windows and doors typical of this style.
The Occidental Hotel is significant because of its association with prominent Victoria architect John Teague, who came to Victoria in 1862 as an engineer for the Royal Navy at Esquimalt. After designing some of the navy buildings, he went into private practice, designing a wide variety of buildings, from hospitals and churches to business blocks and private homes. Remarkably prolific, Teague designed over 350 buildings and greatly influenced the character of early architecture in Victoria. His buildings include Victoria City Hall, the Freemason’s Meeting Hall, the East Block of St. Ann’s Academy, Scholefield House and the Church of Our Lord.
The substantial and handsome Occidental Hotel speaks to the mood of prosperity and possibility prevalent in the 1880s by the completion of the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway and the expansion of the huge No. 1 Coal Mine. Located one block from the train station, the Occidental Hotel was the first business to take advantage of the opportunities the nearby train station provided. Over time, other businesses were established and the area eventually became an important secondary retail district within a predominantly residential neighbourhood. The Occidental Hotel has been in continuous use as an eating and drinking establishment for over 100 years.”
We have put a page for the Occidental Hotel under our Buildings Associated With Ashlar Lodge Members page. Also see the Rawlinson-Glaholm Grocery, located directly across the street from the Occidental Hotel.
Brethren,
There are two important Masonic events upcoming soon.
First, the Grand Master will be making his Official Visit to District 27, hosted by Chemainus Lodge, No. 114, on Saturday, 14 November, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. There will be a lunch at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Hall in Ladysmith at 12:00 noon. More information is available on the Chemainus Lodge, No.114 website, the Grand Master’s Facebook page and the Grand Master’s Itinerary – note PDF.
Second, the Ashlar Lodge, No.3 Installation of Officers will be held at Ashlar Masonic Temple on 19 December 2015 with lunch at 11 a.m. and tyled Installation ceremony at 1 p.m. All Brethren are welcome to attend.
The next regular meeting of Ashlar Lodge, No.3 will be held on 2 December, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Please check our News & Events page for more information.
posted 12 November 2015
FYI our Ashlar Masonic Temple Gate has been featured on page 8 of the October 2015 (note PDF 9 MB) issue of the City of Nanaimo Culture and Heritage Department Newsletter. Here’s the link – note PDF 9 MB
W.B. Mark Anderson, 26 October 2015
Welcome to the Ashlar Lodge, No.3 Masonic blog. This is the first actual blog post since our new website went online on 21 October 2015.
Nanaimo has a rich Masonic history and heritage but we have forgotten or overlooked much of it.
When I posted the first information of our Historic Membership Lists pages I came across the name of Brother John William Glaholm in our 1920s and 1930s membership lists.
Then I stumbled across a building on the Nanaimo Heritage Register: the Rawlinson and Glaholm Grocery, built in 1916 and designed by Seattle architect E.J. Bresemann, who also designed several buildings on the City of Victoria Heritage Building Registry.
So for our first Ashlar Lodge, No.3 blog research project, I’m going to look into whether the the “Glaholm” in the “Rawlinson & Glaholm Grocery” is the Bro. John William Glaholm listed in our Ashlar Lodge, No. 3 Historic Membership Lists.
I’ll post what I find in a later blog post. If anybody else has anything about Masonic history in Nanaimo or wants to do some research, please forward what you find to webmaster@ashlar3.com and I’ll post it here.
W.B. Mark Anderson, 26 October 2015
13 November 2015 Update
WB Tim Findlay and I went to the Nanaimo Archives today and looked up the obituary for John W. Glaholm. It turns out the John W. Glaholm who was involved in the Rawlinson and Glaholm Grocery is, in fact, the John Glaholm who appears in our early Membership Lists. We have updated the website to include these findings and created a page for John William Glaholm.
This is the new web domain of Ashlar Lodge, No.3, A.F. & A.M., Nanaimo, British Columbia.
The new Ashlar Lodge, No.3 website is currently Under Construction but is up and running with some useful information.
Unfortunately there is a minor technical glitch with our domain name pointer, which is pointing to this blog page instead of our Home Page. Until we get this sorted out, please use this link to go to our Ashlar Lodge, No.3 Home Page
Please keep checking back with us as we are regularly adding new information and pages to our website.
You can also contact Ashlar Lodge, No. 3 at AshlarLodge3@gmail.com