Research · costs, membership, dimensions
The Numbers
What the temple cost
The figures do not converge, and each measures something different. None should be averaged into another.
| Figure | What it measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| $140,000 | The announced plan | Houston Post-Dispatch and Chronicle, Mar. 23, 1930 |
| $105,035 | The building-permit valuation | Houston Chronicle, June 20, 1930, p. 38 |
| about $110,000 | Bace Construction’s contract, let May 1930 | Chronicle contract notices, 1930 |
| $110,700 | Completed cost, as carried by the lodge | Reagan Lodge history; 2010 marker |
| $150,000 | A press aside in the October 1930 feature | Houston Chronicle, Oct. 19, 1930, p. 25 |
| about $125,000 | A seller’s recollection at the 1935 sale attempt | Houston Chronicle, July 9, 1935, p. 5 |
| $140,000 | The 1943 lease story’s figure (with a wrong 1932 date) | Houston Chronicle, spring 1943 |
Membership of Reagan Lodge No. 1037
23 (1910) · 120 (1917) · 544 (1924) · 855 (1930) · 894 (1931, peak of the temple years) · 797 (1933) · 633 (1939) · 1,278 (1948) · about 1,750–1,800 (1960–65) · 1,625 (1970)
Grand Lodge of Texas Proceedings, annual returns. The 1965 figure of 1,817 rests on a damaged table and is not used.
The building, measured
| Measure | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Site | Lots 13–16 and the south half of Lot 17, Block 199: 225 ft on Harvard by 132 ft on Eleventh. The 1939 sale gave 200 ft on Harvard (Lots 13–16 only), and a “vacant lot 100 by 150 feet” once quoted for 1930 has not been traced. | Houston Chronicle, Mar. 23, 1930; Sept. 10, 1939; 1964 site plan; 1985 declaration |
| Main block | 39 ft wide at the Harvard front, 49 ft at the rear, 102 ft 10 in long; 59 ft 7 in to the roof penthouses (reported from the 1964 set; not legible on the sheets photographed for this site) | Wirtz, Calhoun, Tungate & Jackson, 1964 (held privately) |
| Storefronts along Eleventh | Seven bays, about 94 ft in all (reported from the 1964 set; not checked against the sheets) | Wirtz, Calhoun, Tungate & Jackson, 1964 (held privately) |
| Floors | Three stories over a raised basement; “3 stories 3842 sq ft each” in the 1965 sale ad, which also lists a “storearea 5,946 sq. ft.” and an “office area 3842 sq. ft.” | Houston Chronicle, Oct. 19, 1965, p. 54 |
| Apartments | Twenty-four, numbered 1–6, 11–16, 21–26, 31–36 (the numbering suggests six to a floor); 79 residents | 1950 census, ED 263-139, sheets 3–5 and call-back sheets 71–74 |
| Dance academy lease | 7,000 sq ft of the upper floors | Houston Post, Aug. 27, 1939 |
| 1951 addition | $50,000; “132 by 137 feet, of masonry construction” | Houston Chronicle, Feb. 25, 1951, p. 62 |
| Homes today | Fourteen, numbered 1–12, 14 and 15 (there is no unit 13) | Condominium declaration, Harris County File No. K060751 (1985); Harris County Appraisal District roll, 2026 |