THE
TUSCAN
LODGE #195
"The Tuscan" Lodge No. 195
The first meeting of "The Tuscan" Lodge was held in the Masonic Hall on Richmond St. on December 23, 1867. Although the exact location is not given, the Lodge room was undoubtedly in the "Albion Block", a large 3 storey building located north of Carling St. on the west side of Richmond.
For most of its life, this building housed the Royal Canadian Navy, and was commissioned the "H.M.C.S. Prevost".
The "Historical Sketch of St. John's Lodge No. 20" tells us that a Lodge room was consecrated on St. John's Day, June 24, 1856, in the Victoria Building, which had been erected in 1855. This building, across from City Hall, still stands in part. However, soon after the consecration, most Lodges moved to the Albion Block. "The Tuscan" Lodge advertisement in the London Free Press, March 7, 1870, gives the address as "Freemason's Hall, Albion Buildings".
The first W.M. of "The Tuscan" Lodge, Captain Thompson Wilson, was well known to the Freemasons of the then extensive London District (Canada West). He was the second D.D.G.M. in 1857 and again the fourth in 1859, when the District was reduced to include Lodges from Essex, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex and Elgin. He was also a Charter Member and the first W.M. of St. George's Lodge No. 42 in 1852.
Before the expansion of the London Free Press, the "Huron and Erie Building" twice housed "The Tuscan", from 1870 to 1883, and again in 1900 during renovations from a fire. This building was located on Richmond St. opposite "H.M.C.S. Prevost".
"The Tuscan" moved to the "Grand Opera House and Masonic Hall" in 1883, and remained there until 1912 with a brief interruption caused by a fire in 1900, which destroyed the Lodge rooms and required extensive renovations. It was gloriously Victorian in design, and was located on the northeast corner of King and Richmond Streets.
Also, for a brief time in 1900, the building at 765 Dundas St. was the home of "The Tuscan", it being the Lodge Room of Corinthian Lodge No. 330.
The first meeting in the Queens Avenue Temple was held in December, 1912, and the last in June, 1962. The property was purchased by the London Life Insurance Company, and is now part of that office complex, covering most of the block. The site of the Temple was the north side of Queens Avenue half-way between Wellington and Clarence Streets.
During the construction of the present Masonic Temple on Dufferin Avenue, the premises at Queens Avenue were vacated. St. Paul's Lodge No. 107, Lambeth, graciously offered the use of their rooms during the interim. Their building was located on Main Street in Lambeth, but has since been replaced with the present Lodge Hall on Beattie St., Lambeth.