Shannon Yarbrough

Last night, J and I saw Iron Man at the new Moolah Temple movie theatre here in St. Louis. The ambiance and grandeur of the building alone is amazing. They serve “adult” beverages which you can take into the theatre. There’s a bowling alley in the basement. There’s a bar. There’s a billiards rooms. The one movie screen in the auditorium is huge, with large leather sofas covering the floor down front which is where we sat. My only disappointment is that the sound is horrible. No surround sound at all. I couldn’t understand half the movie. Here’s some information and pictures I found about the building itself.

The Moolah Temple was home to the Shriners, a Masonic organization, until the mid-1980s, when the changing residency of the Shriners’ membership prompted them to move west. Built in the 1920s, the structure was never actually completed. Rooms within were rented out to various other Masonic groups and chapters, but as the middle class fled to the suburbs, they took their rental income with them. With heating and restoration costs looming, the building was sold around 1986 or ‘87.

Craig Cervantes Realtors offered the building for sale; a September 13, 2000 article from the Post-Dispatch reported that long-time owner TRiSTAR Business Communities planned to renovate the building to the tune of $11 million, to the designs of Cleveland-based GSI-Architects Inc. Office space would be installed in the unique interior spaces, with state historic tax credits requiring that they remain intact. An 1880s house located next to the temple was slated for demolition. The renovation never got underway, however; the building sat idle for several more years.

Around 2004, a $42 million renovation finally got underway, under the stewardship of developers Amy and Amrit Gill. In January 2005, the former Masonic temple re-opened with 40 apartments, a single-screen movie theater (boasting the largest screen in the area and leather couches among the seating), and a bowling alley and grille in the basement. A new garage stands behind the building, serving the Moolah Temple as well as SLU.

Sadly, I’ve never really had a chance to enjoy and get to know a lot of things like this in the city since I’ve lived here. I’ve always been a visitor on the cusp of the party, you could say. So, this was a nice treat despite the poor sound quality.

Iron Man, the movie, was awesome. A great action packed super hero movie, the kind I haven’t seen in a while. Kudos to Robert Downey Jr. too. He pulled it off!