{"id":19491,"date":"2018-07-07T16:13:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-07T15:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=19491"},"modified":"2018-07-07T16:13:06","modified_gmt":"2018-07-07T15:13:06","slug":"ihbcs-heritage-from-the-doorstep-historic-masonic-lodge-to-be-turned-into-flats-in-aberdeen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=19491","title":{"rendered":"IHBC\u2019s \u2018Heritage from the doorstep\u2019: Historic Masonic lodge to be turned into flats in Aberdeen"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-19492\" src=\"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Press_Journal_Aberdeen_070718.png\" alt=\"website\" width=\"300\" height=\"270\" \/>Aberdeen\u2019s <em>Press and Journal<\/em> has updated readers on construction commencing on a major project to breathe new life into what\u2019s thought to be the only purpose-built Masonic lodge in Scotland.<\/h3>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em>The Press and Journal<\/em> writes:<\/p>\n<p>The building on Western Road, Aberdeen, has been lying empty for eight years, since its members moved to another base in the city. Constructed in 1904 with a now-A-listed granite front, it was purchased by property developers Paul Gibson, 30, and Dean Smart, 31, last month. The pair have already started work to transform the property into four 1300sq ft apartments, while keeping as much of the original building intact as they can. Mr Gibson said: \u2018It\u2019s an important piece of Aberdeen\u2019s granite heritage and we didn\u2019t want to lose it. Nobody wants to see anything that\u2019s been around since 1904 being demolished.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The original building was home to a circular underground crypt, which the developers are keen to turn into a focal point wine cellar with a glass ceiling residents can walk across. Mr Gibson added: \u2018The previous plans for the building were for it to be turned into a big family home, but they were going to just fill the crypt with hardcore and forget about it. We\u2019ve put a lot of time in with architects and engineers to make sure we can keep it.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Mr Smart, who runs Diamond Property Developments with Mr Gibson, said they had been surprised but delighted to acquire a unique property\u2026 He added: \u2018Everything in the property market is so modern just now. It\u2019s all got to be new and square with straight lines. There are so many developers which would take a building like this and turn it into something like that.\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressandjournal.co.uk\/fp\/news\/aberdeen\/1499151\/historic-masonic-lodge-to-be-turned-into-flats-in-aberdeen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read more&#8230;.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aberdeen\u2019s Press and Journal has updated readers on construction commencing on a major project to breathe new life into what\u2019s thought to be the only purpose-built Masonic lodge in Scotland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19491"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19493,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19491\/revisions\/19493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}