BEHIND THE MASK OF REASON

The obsession with mystic geometry was not confined to places of worship. John Byrom was yet another Freemason, geometer and member of the Cabala Club (and inventor of a system of shorthand) from the same era as Wren and Hawksmoor. A collection of detailed drawings was recently found in his papers suggesting a geometric and astrological basis not just for many of London’s churches but also for its major theatres.

Masonic influence on London didn’t end after the Great Fire. In the early 19th century, Freemasonry enjoyed a period of more open popularity. Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III, became the first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England. Secrecy was relaxed and famous Masons of the day included the Duke of Wellington and architect Sir John Soane.

Soane was, appropriately enough for a Mason, the son of a bricklayer. His works included the Bank of England, perhaps the most significant emblem of power in the new century. Soane’s work on the Bank continued for 45 years and he described it as “the pride and the boast of my life”.

A bank must project an image of solidity and stability, and Soane’s Bank of England building, a veritable cathedral of finance, did just that. After a jittery period during the 1790s, the institution regained its reput­ation for standing foursquare amidst global upheaval. As recent history has again proven the confidence of investors is all-important, and losing it means a catastrophic fall (softened only by the occasional government bail-out).

Soane’s Bank building was demolished in the 1920s, an act described by architectural historian Nicholas Pevsner as “the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the 20th century”. Only the outer walls now remain. After the demolition, the Bank suffered its greatest crisis in the Great Depression – a fitting punishment, perhaps.

Another of Soane’s masterpieces was the Freemason’s Hall in Great Queen Street, meeting place for hundreds of Lodges and home of the Grand Temple. Even the Masons admit that its current incarnation contains a mass of esoteric symbolism which can only be fully understood by the initiated. In a spirit of openness, the Hall is now open to the public with frequent guided tours.

Soane also left a monument to himself, turning his house and studio into a remarkable museum which reveals his “eclectic, experimental, whimsical, and above all, illusionist preoccupations”. Again, behind the mask of rational design lurks the joker.