Masonic Hall, 15 Rosemary Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 3FN

Rosemary Street Masonic Hall is a three-storey Neo-Classical building with basement, constructed between 1953 and 1956 to designs by the Belfast architectural practice Young and Mackenzie. It stands on the north side of Rosemary Street, a pedestrian street whose layout was established by at least 1715, when it appeared on a map of Belfast as "Rosemary Lean." The hall serves as the headquarters of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim.

The building occupies the site of Belfast's Third Presbyterian Church, originally constructed in 1829–32 to designs by Belfast architect John Millar, and described on completion in 1831 as "universally admitted to be the most gorgeously finished meeting-house in the kingdom." That church was destroyed during the Belfast Blitz in 1941, which levelled much of the area around Rosemary Street and Bridge Street. The bomb-damaged ground lay vacant until the 1950s, when both the Masonic Hall and the adjoining Central Hall were built as part of the wider post-war reconstruction. Young and Mackenzie were the principal practice involved in rebuilding this part of the city, also designing the former Arnott's Building on the corner of Bridge Street and High Street in 1955 and a contrasting Festival of Britain-style modern block at the opposite corner in 1957–59, also for Arnott. Construction of the Masonic Hall began in February 1953, as recorded in the Irish Builder, and the building was completed and officially opened in 1956. The hall was valued at £3,650 under the Second General Revaluation of property in Northern Ireland in 1956, though this was reduced to £2,000 in 1957 following an appeal by the Grand Lodge of Antrim against the rating.

The south-facing principal elevation is symmetrical beneath a pedimented gable. The walls are ashlar reconstructed stone, with band rustication to the ground floor over a granite plinth. A projecting moulded string course runs at first-floor level, aligned with the entrance canopy. All openings are flat-lintelled with moulded architraves. The pedimented gable is framed by a bracketed, dentilled, moulded cornice. The central section of the elevation projects slightly and contains single windows; the flanking bays have windows arranged in triplets. The second-floor central window features a fluted panel apron sitting over a projecting cornice belonging to the first-floor window below. The entrance porch is formed of columns in antis and carries a bracketed canopy that doubles as a balconette with an urn balustrade at first-floor level. The porch is reached by granite steps, whose side walls contain arched niches with memorial panels beneath. Above the door is a shield bearing the Mason's compasses, and over the door is a single-paned light. The entrance itself has double solid timber doors, each with four octagonal panels. Cast iron railings and gates are set within the steps. The party walls are slightly recessed with low ground-floor piers capped with volutes.

The roof is pitched natural slate with gutters concealed behind the parapet; rainwater pipes are round metal with square hopper heads. Timber sash windows throughout are of 6/9 and 4/6 pane configurations.

The west elevation is abutted by a three-storey building. The north elevation shows a pitched roof stepping down to a flat roof to the west, with a two-storey flat-roofed block projecting from the west. The north elevation walls are red brick; the taller section has no openings at third-floor level, and all openings have flat concrete lintels. Windows here are mainly 15-pane 6/9 timber sashes, with some three-paned examples. The east elevation is also abutted by a three-storey building.

Internally, the building has grand rooms displaying fine craftsmanship in their fittings, with an interesting and complex plan form retaining much historic fabric and detailing. Within the main meeting hall, a mural on the western wall depicts the Biblical scene of King Solomon building the Temple in Jerusalem; an inscription records that this mural was presented to the Masonic Lodge by Young and Mackenzie, the building's architects.

In the entrance doorway, a memorial plaque commemorates Henry Joy McCracken, incorporating an image of the executed rebel. It reads: "1798 / HENRY JOY MCCRACKEN / RADICAL BELFAST PRESBYTERIAN / HANGED AT CORNMARKET FOR / LEADING THE UNITED IRISHMEN AT THE / BATTLE OF ANTRIM 7TH JUNE 1798 / 'FAITHFUL TO THE LAST.'" A smaller plaque below records that the memorial was commissioned by Dr R. M. Shearer to mark McCracken's involvement in the history of the area, and that it was unveiled on 4th February 2003 by the Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim, Brother A. J. McKinley.

By the late 20th century, increasing maintenance costs led a number of associated Masonic lodges to relocate to the Arthur Square Masonic Hall. Nevertheless, the Stated meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Antrim continues to be held at Rosemary Street on a biannual basis, and lodge No. 218, the Antrim Lodge of Installed Masters, has also used the hall infrequently.

The Masonic Hall was listed in 1990. It sits in a notable setting on pedestrian Rosemary Street: to its west is Rosemary Street First Presbyterian Church, with Central Halls opposite. The rear of the building is now visible from the North Street car park. Rosemary Street itself was historically remarkable for once possessing no fewer than three Presbyterian churches, of which Rosemary Street First Presbyterian is the only survivor.